JOHN   MCKNIGHT 
STORROW 


THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE 


THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE 


FROM  THE  EARLIEST  TIMES  TO  THE 

CONSULATE  OF  NAPOLEON 

BONAPARTE 


BY 

THOMAS   E.    WATSON 


IN  TWO   VOLUMES 
VOL.  I 

TO   THE  END   OF  THE  REIGN  OF  LOUIS  THE 
FIFTEENTH 


THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

LONDON :  MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LTD. 

1899 


COPTEIGHT,    1899, 

BY  THE  MAOMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Tv'ortoonT)  Tfirtt* 

i.  S.  Cuihing  &  Co.  -  Berwick  It  Smith 
Norwood  Man.  U.S.A. 


.  -j!  lege 
ibrary 

1 


PREFACE 

IT  has  been  the  purpose  of  the  author  to  lay  before  the 
reader  a  clear  narrative  of  the  gradual  development  of  a 
great  people.  No  attempt  has  been  made  to  fill  in  every 
detail.  The  larger  outlines  of  national  growth  have  been 
followed,  and  every  material  change  in  the  condition  of 
the  kingdom  has  been  indicated.  It  is  hardly  necessary 
to  say  that  every  statement  in  the  book  is  supported  by 
authority.  Not  only  have  all  the  standard  histories  been 
consulted,  but  also  those  numerous  Memoirs  and  Auto- 
biographies in  which  the  literature  of  France  is  so  pecul- 
iarly rich.  To  note  the  varying  forms  of  government,  to 
trace  the  ancient  origins  of  modern  laws  and  customs,  to 
mark  the  encroachments  of  absolutism  upon  popular  rights, 
to  describe  the  long-continued  struggle  of  the  many  to 
throw  off  the  yoke  of  the  few,  to  emphasize  the  corrupting 
influence  of  the  union  between  Church  and  State,  to  illus- 
trate once  more  the  blighting  effects  of  superstition,  igno- 
rance, blind  obedience,  unjust  laws,  confiscation  under 
the  disguise  of  unequal  taxes,  and  the  systematic  plunder, 
year  by  year,  of  the  weaker  classes  by  the  stronger,  have 
been  the  motives  which  led  to  the  enormous  labour  in- 
volved in  this  book. 

May  the  Labour  bear  some  little  fruit. 

THOMSOX,  GEORGIA, 
November  27,  1898. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


PAGE 

INTRODUCTION xiii 

CHAPTER  I 

The  Gauls.   Their  Manners,  Customs,  Religion,  and  Government ; 

Caesar's  Conquest  of  Gaul 1 

CHAPTER  II 

Gaul  as  a  Roman  Province.     Migration  of  Tribes  and  Invasions 

of  the  Goths  and  Huns 17 

CHAPTER  IH 

The  Franks 29 

CHAPTER  IV 

The  Merovingian  Kings  (561-747) :  Clotaire ;  Charibert ;  Chil- 

peric ;  Fredegonda ;  and  Brunehilda 49 

CHAPTER  V 

The  Merovingian  Kings  (continued).     The  Convent  of  Queen 

Radegonda 71 

CHAPTER  VI 

Social  and  Political  Conditions ;  Origin  of  Aristocracy.  The 
Carlovingian  Kings :  Pepin ;  Charlemagne ;  Louis  the  Hand- 
some and  his  Sons 92 

CHAPTER  VII 

The  Capetian  Kings :  Hugh  Capet ;  Robert  the  Wise ;  Philip  the 

Fat;  Beginning  of  the  Dark  Ages 113 

vii 


Vlll  CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Feudalism  125 


The  Crusades 143 

CHAPTER  X 

Chivalry 154 

CHAPTER  XI 

Louis  the  Fat  to  Philip  the  Fair.     Reforms  in  Government  and 

Decline  of  Feudalism  (1108-1314) 165 

CHAPTER  XII 

Louis  the  Tenth  to  Charles  the  Fair.     Beginning  of  Freedom  of 

Thought  (1314-1328) 184 


The  Hundred  Years'  War.     Philip  the  Fortunate  and  John  the 

Good  (1328-1364) 197 

CHAPTER  XIV 

Charles  the  Fifth  and  Charles  the  Sixth.     Wars  with  England 

(1364-1380)    .        .        . 212 

CHAPTER  XV 
Joan  of  Arc  and  Charles  the  Seventh 234 

CHAPTER  XVI 

Joan  of  Arc  (continued) 257 


CONTENTS  ix 

CHAPTER  XVII 

PAGK 

Last  Years  of  Charles  the  Seventh.     His  Death  ....     262 

CHAPTER  XVIII 

Louis  the  Eleventh 269 

CHAPTER  XIX 

Anne  of  France  and  Charles  the  Eighth 290 

CHAPTER  XX 
Louis  the  Twelfth 313 

CHAPTER  XXI 

Francis  the  First 327 

CHAPTER  XXII 
Francis  the  First  (continued) 352 

CHAPTER  XXIII 
The  Reformation 365 

CHAPTER  XXIV 
Henry  the  Second  (1547-1559) 394 

CHAPTER  XXV 

Charles  the  Ninth 409 

CHAPTER  XXVI 

Henry  the  Third 430 


CONTENTS 
CHAPTER  XXVII 


PAGE 


Henry  the  Fourth 446 

CHAPTER  XXVIII 

Henry  the  Fourth  (continued) 458 

CHAPTER   XXIX 

General  Survey.     Social  and  Economic  Conditions      .        .        .    475 

CHAPTER   XXX 

Louis  the  Thirteenth  and  Richelieu 487 

CHAPTER  XXXI 
Louis  the  Fourteenth 504 

CHAPTER  XXXII 

Louis  the  Fourteenth  (continued)         ......     524 

CHAPTER   XXXIII 

Some  Naval  Heroes :  Duquesne ;  Jean  Bart ;  D'Estrees.  Wars 
of  the  Grand  Monarch  ;  his  Secret  Marriage  to  Madame  de 
Maintenon 537 

CHAPTER  XXXIV 

Death  of  the  Grand  Monarch  and  Sketch  of  the  Ancien  Regime     564 

CHAPTER  XXXV 

Louis  the  Fourteenth  ;  his  Court;  his  Administration         .        .     579 


CONTENTS  xi 

CHAPTER  XXXVI 

PAGE 

The  Regency.    John  Law  and  his  Schemes         ....    608 

CHAPTER  XXXVTI 
Louis  the  Fifteenth 631 

CHAPTER  XXXVHI 
Louis  the  Fifteenth  (continued) 655 

CHAPTER  XXXIX 

Last  Years  of  Louis  the  Fifteenth         ....  672 


INTRODUCTION 

A  S  long  as  men  continue  to  find  interest  in  the  annals 
of  the  past,  the  Story  of  France  will  command  es- 
pecial attention.  No  other  modern  nation  has  undergone 
changes  more  frequent,  more  radical,  more  sudden,  bloody, 
and  dramatic.  In  forms  of  government,  France  has  boxed 
the  compass,  —  has  been  feudal,  monarchical,  imperial, 
republican,  and  revolutionary.  She  has  sounded  the 
depths  of  royal  absolutism  and  of  communistic  anarchy; 
has  made  and  unmade  constitutions  in  the  pathetic  effort 
to  get  one  that  would  fit ;  has  known  a  military  despotism, 
which  bluntly  told  the  women  to  marry  and  bear  children 
in  order  that  Napoleon  might  be  continuously  supplied 
with  troops;  has  known  an  absolute  monarchy,  where  a 
graceful  manner  was  more  effective  at  court  than  a  head 
well  filled  with  sense ;  and  has  known  a  government  of 
the  rabble,  under  which  there  was  an  insurrection  against 
property,  and  death  sentences  passed  against  citizens  for 
the  sin  of  wearing  aristocratic  names  and  clean  shirts. 

No  land  has  given  birth  to  men  more  great,  more  good, 
more  brave;  none  has  been  cursed  with  men  more  vile. 
No  people  have  climbed  higher  in  the  arduous  pathway  of 
victory;  none  have  been  so  pitilessly  stricken  down  in 
defeat. 

To  no  nation  has  it  been  given  to  illustrate  more  fully 
the  fact  that  civilization  is  but  skin-deep,  and  that  the 


xiv  INTRODUCTION 

savage  lurks  within  us  yet.  In  his  days  of  barbarism  the 
Gaul,  more  brutal  than  the  Indian,  cut  off  the  entire  head 
of  his  victims  in  war,  and  hung  it  on  his  horse's  neck  as 
a  trophy,  or  nailed  it  to  his  door  for  good  luck.  After 
some  centuries  of  Christianity,  the  son  of  this  same  Gaul, 
the  savage  within  him  having  been  let  loose  again  by  the 
Revolution,  chopped  off  the  heads  of  "aristocrats,"  male 
and  female,  and  bore  them  along  the  streets  of  Paris, 
Marseilles,  Orleans,  and  Versailles  in  bloody  triumph, 
amid  exultant  songs  and  dancing.  France  has  furnished 
the  epic  poem  of  modern  history.  She  has  been  the  theatre 
of  a  colossal  drama,  which  all  nations  have  watched  with 
bated  breath,  and  which  has  profoundly  affected  the  desti- 
nies of  the  human  race.  In  no  other  country  has  the  en- 
tire political  fabric  been  torn  down  and  rebuilt;  in  no 
other  land  have  dreamers,  armed  with  resistless  power, 
attempted  to  fashion  a  government  according  to  theories 
contained  in  a  book  —  to  clothe  mankind  politically  after 
a  pattern  cut  out  by  a  half-crazy  theorist.  In  no  other 
country  has  a  desperate  effort  been  made  to  enthrone  the 
gospel  of  anarchy  and  communism,  according  to  which 
everything  belongs  to  everybody  in  general  and  to  nobody 
in  particular.  In  no  other  country  has  the  opposite  theory 
been  so  absolutely  dominant  and  the  king  so  unrestrain- 
edly in  possession  of  everything  —  life,  liberty,  property, 
law,  and  religion.  No  other  modern  land  has  known  a  Na- 
poleon, none  other  a  Marat,  none  other  a  Talleyrand.  In 
Marengo  and  Austerlitz,  the  French  have  supplied  the 
world  with  the  synonyms  of  dazzling  success ;  in  Water- 
loo, they  have  given  a  name  for  hopeless,  overwhelming 
defeat. 

They  have  marched  triumphant,  with  flags  flying  and 


INTRODUCTION  xv 

bands  playing,  into  almost  every  capital  in  Europe ;  and 
the  nations  of  Europe  have  marched  time  and  again,  with 
flags  flying,  into  the  capital  of  the  French. 

After  all  changes,  France  is  still  great,  still  progressive, 
still  holding  its  way  onward,  abreast  of  the  other  great 
Powers  in  the  march  of  human  development. 

Surely  the  record  of  such  a  people  must  abound  in  les- 
sons worth  learning,  heroisms  worth  knowing,  facts 
which  warn,  which  enlighten,  which  profoundly  interest 
all  thoughtful  men. 


THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE 


CHAPTER   I 

THE   GAULS 

THEIR  MANNERS,  CUSTOMS,  RELIGION,  AND  GOVERNMENT;    CESAR'S  CON- 
QUEST OF  GAUL 

\TO  one  can  tell  with  certainty  what  people  originally 
dwelt  in  France.  The  first  authentic  accounts  we 
have  picture  to  us  a  land  darkened  by  immense  forests, 
watered  by  rivers  which  freeze  in  winter,  and  inhabited 
by  numerous  tribes  of  men  who  are  almost  as  savage  as 
the  wild  beasts  which  roam  the  trackless  woods. 

A  remnant  of  these  original  inhabitants  still  survives  in  B.C. 
the  Basques,  —  a  simple,  industrious,  and  honest  people 
whose  home  is  in  the  Pyrenees  of  Spain.  To  this  day 
they  preserve  their  ancient  customs,  manners,  and  lan- 
guage ;  and  are  noted  for  the  bravery  of  their  men  and 
the  modesty  of  their  women.  They  were  driven  out  of 
France  by  the  Celts,  or  Gauls,  a  horde  of  marauders  who 
had  come  into  the  country  from  the  direction  of  Germany, 
but  who  are  supposed  to  have  emigrated  from  central  Asia. 

These  Gauls  were  not  mere  savages,  as  Roman  histo- 
rians have  pretended.  Even  at  that  early  day,  when  the 
Romans  themselves  were  going  about  with  nothing  on 
their  legs  but  hide  and  hair,  the  Gauls  were  wearing 

B  1 


2  THE   STORY    OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

breeches.  As  a  starting-point  for  comparisons,  this  un- 
disputed fact  gives  us  encouragement  and  strength.  Be- 
sides breeches,  the  Gauls  wore  a  tunic,  covering  shoulders 
and  chest,  and  a  striped  cloak  resembling  the  plaid  of  the 
Scotch  Highlander. 

Golden  armlets  and  girdles  were  not  uncommon  among 
the  Gaulish  chiefs,  and  in  battle  they  wore  a  helmet  of 
brass,  a  breastplate,  and  a  shield.  Like  the  American 
Indians,  they  shouted  their  war-whoop  as  they  rushed 
upon  their  enemies,  and  the  triumphant  Celt,  not  content 
with  the  scalp  of  his  foe,  took  the  entire  head,  as  the  best 
possible  guarantee  that  that  particular  enemy  was  dead. 

The  Celt  has  never  been  a  conspicuously  successful 
farmer.  He  cleared  comparatively  few  fields  for  the 
plough ;  he  built  few  towns  and  cities.  He  dwelt  in  caves 
and  rude  huts,  and  he  roamed  with  his  herds  of  cattle  from 
one  pasture  to  another,  living  upon  the  flesh  of  the  wild 
beasts  he  hunted  and  bartering  their  skins  to  the  Italian 
or  Grecian  or  Phoenician  merchant  for  trinkets,  or  strong 
drink,  just  as  the  Indians  did  in  the  good  old  days  when 
our  honoured  ancestors  could  get  land  worth  a  thousand 
dollars  in  exchange  for  a  gun  warranted  not  to  shoot, 
or  a  string  of  beautiful  red  beads  worth  ten  cents. 

The  chiefs  might  live  in  strong  log  houses  and  possess 
considerable  wealth  in  cattle,  horses,  hogs,  and  precious 
metals,  but  the  masses  were  wretchedly  poor.  Physically 
the  Gauls  were  tall  and  strong,  blue-eyed  and  light-haired. 
They  were  terrible  in  battle,  but  if  repulsed,  or  beaten, 
they  almost  immediately  lost  heart,  and  fell  into  panic 
and  ruinous  retreat. 

Not  content  with  the  amount  of  fighting  they  constantly 
had  on  hand  at  home,  they  carried  their  arms  as  far  into 


i  THE   GAULS  3 

other  countries  as  their  limited  knowledge  of  geography 
would  justify.  We  find  them  invading  Greece,  checked  at 
Thermopylae,  but  flanking  the  pass  by  the  same  secret  path 
which  was  betrayed  to  Xerxes.  We  find  them  overthrow- 
ing a  Grecian  king  and  plundering  the  temple  at  Delphi.  B.C. 

O*TO 

We  find  them  marauding  in  Asia,  terrorizing  and  plun- 
dering the  effeminate  citizens  of  the  rich  cities  bordering 
the  Bosphorus.  We  find  them  invading  Spain  and  estab- 
lishing themselves  there.  We  see  them  come  face  to  face 
with  Alexander  the  Great  on  the  Danube.  "  What  do 
the  Gauls  most  fear  ?  "  asked  the  young  king  of  a  deputa- 
tion of  Gaulish  chiefs  which  had  visited  his  camp  out 
of  curiosity.  "We  fear  nothing,"  answered  the  Gauls, 
proudly,  "  unless  it  be  the  fall  of  the  skies ;  but  we  value 
the  friendship  of  a  man  like  you." 

To  Rome  the  Gauls  were  a  constant  terror.  Time  and 
again  the  fierce  chiefs  led  their  half-naked  followers  over 
the  Alps,  swooped  down  upon  the  vine-clad  slopes  of 
Italy,  ravaged  the  plains,  sacked  the  towns,  and  almost 
rubbed  the  Roman  name  off  the  map.  So  fixed  was  this 
fear  of  the  Gauls,  so  permanent  the  danger,  that  a  definite 
portion  of  the  yearly  revenues  of  Rome  was  set  apart  for 
defence  against  these  dreaded  and  hereditary  foes. 

In  the  year  390  B.C.,  the  Gauls  captured  Rome  itself    B.C. 
and  held  it  for  nine  months.     Only  the  citadel  escaped,    39( 
and  that  too  would  have  fallen,  say  the  Roman  writers, 
had  not  some  patriotic  geese  given  timely  warning  to  the 
defenders  of  the  stealthy  approach  of  the  Gauls,  who  were 
about  to  take  it  by  surprise.     Finally,  the  Romans  hired 
the  Gauls  to  go  away;  and,  as  the  barbarian  army  was 
marching  home,  the  Romans,  under  Camillus,  perfidiously 
assailed  it,  and  inflicted  heavy  losses. 


4  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Twenty-three  years  afterwards  they  were  again  in  the 
Roman  territories,  with  fire  and  sword,  carrying  terror 
and  conquest  to  the  very  walls  of  Rome.  For  twelve  years 
they  occupied  the  outlying  country  and  kept  the  Romans 
cooped  up  within  the  narrow  limits  of  their  capital. 
Finally,  these  Gauls  withdrew,  and  made  permanent  set- 
tlements in  the  valleys  of  the  Po. 

B.C.  When  Hannibal  crossed  the  Alps,  on  his  famous  march 
278  against  Rome,  the  Gauls  in  great  numbers  followed  him. 
They  formed  the  flower  of  his  troops,  and  to  their  splendid 
cavalry,  especially,  he  owed  his  success.  Thirty  thou- 
sand Gauls  fought  with  him  at  Cannae ;  and  of  the  5500 
men  that  Hannibal  lost  4000  were  Gauls.  It  was  by  their 
aid  that  the  wonderful  Carthaginian  held  his  ground  so 
many  years  in  Italy,  and  brought  Rome  to  the  very  J>rink  of 
B.C.  ruin.  Even  after  the  tide  turned  against  Hannibal,  and 
he  crossed  over  to  Africa  to  fight  and  lose  his  last  great 
battle,  at  Zama,  the  Gauls  were  true  to  him  and  composed 
one-third  of  his  army. 

Those  brave  people  had  no  real  military  discipline. 
Their  weapons  were  rude  clubs,  axes,  swords,  spears,  and 
knives.  They  rushed  into  battle  like  a  disorderly  mob  — 
each  man  yelling  his  battle-cry.  Only  the  chiefs  and  the 
higher  orders  rode  horses.  Their  vehicles  were  huge  carts 
with  two  wheels  —  the  entire  wheel  being  one  piece  of 
wood.  Oxen  did  the  pulling.  When  the  Gaulish  army 
marched,  the  women  and  children  went  along  in  the 
wagons.  During  a  battle  the  wagons  were  massed  in 
the  rear,  and  the  men  fought  in  sight  of  their  wives. 
In  case  the  day  went  against  them,  the  wagons  became 
an  object  of  attack,  and  the  women  defended  them  with 
desperate  courage. 


i  THE  GAULS  5 

Among  the  Gauls,  women  were  free  to  choose  their  hus- 
bands, but  the  husband  had  the  power  of  life  and  death 
over  wife  and  child. 

Sometimes  a  chief,  wishing  to  marry  off  a  daughter, 
would  give  a  great  feast,  and  invite  all  the  eligible  youths 
round  about.  In  that  event,  it  was  the  custom  for  the 
girl  to  appear  at  the  end  of  the  banquet,  bearing  in  her 
hand  a  cup  of  wine.  After  inspecting  the  various  candi- 
dates for  her  hand,  the  damsel  would  give  the  cup  to  him 
she  preferred,  and  the  fortunate  man  thus  got  both  the 
wine  and  the  woman. 

The  city  of  Marseilles  was  founded  by  a  Greek,  who 
stumbled  upon  a  wife  at  one  of  these  marriage  feasts. 

A  Gaulish  chief,  named  Nann,  who  lived  near  the  sea- 
coast,  had  a  daughter  for  whom  he  wished  to  find  a  hus- 
band; and  he  straightway  prepared  the  usual  banquet, 
inviting  thereto  all  the  young  men  of  the  neighbourhood 
who  were  suitable  for  sons-in-law. 

A  Grecian  ship  having  come  into  port  near  by,  Nann 
invited  the  Greeks  also ;  and  they  came. 

The  feast  seems  to  have  been  a  success  in  every  way ; 
and  after  the  roasted  cow,  stewed  hog,  parched  acorns,  and 
other  native  delicacies  had  been  duly  devoured,  and  im- 
mersed in  liquids  whose  chief  virtue  was  that  they  would 
"make  drunk  come,"  the  blushing  daughter  of  Nann 
entered  the  room,  bringing  the  cup  of  wine. 

The  principal  man  among  the  Greek  strangers  was  a 
youth  named  Euxenes.  To  the  great  relief,  or  dismay,  as 
the  case  may  be,  of  the  Gauls  who  were  candidates  for 
her  hand,  the  maiden,  Gyptos  by  name,  stopped  in  front 
of  Euxenes  and  gave  him  the  wine. 

He  submitted  meekly,  married  Nann's  daughter,  made 


6  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

B.C.  her  a  good  husband,  settled  among  her  people,  founded  the 
)0~  city  of  Marseilles,  brought  over  other  Greeks,  and  when 
his  wife's  brother,  years  afterwards,  Nann  having  died  in 
the  meantime,  tried  to  take  him  by  surprise  and  extermi- 
nate the  colony,  he  surprised  this  brother  and  slew  him. 

This  Greek  colony  at  Marseilles  allied  itself  to  Rome, 
and  became,  eventually,  a  thorn  in  the  flesh  to  Gaul.  It 
was  through  this  channel  that  Roman  interference  with 
affairs  across  the  Alps  first  came. 

The  Gauls  were  densely  ignorant,  and,  therefore,  super- 
stitious. Their  priests,  the  Druids,  practised  upon  this 
ignorance,  and  drew  power  and  revenue  from  the  super- 
stition which  they  fostered. 

These  Druids  exercised  supreme  authority  over  all 
classes,  administered  justice,  and  dictated  the  laws.  Their 
place  of  worship  was  the  dim  and  solemn  grove.  *The  oak 
was  sacred  to  them,  and  the  mistletoe  which  grew  upon  it 
was  supposed  to  possess  miraculous  healing  properties. 
In  the  gloomy  depths  of  vast  forests,  the  Druids  practised 
religious  ceremonies  and  offered  up  human  sacrifices  to 
their  God.  Sometimes  the  victim  perished  slowly,  hor- 
ribly, under  the  knife ;  at  other  times  he  was  enclosed  in 
a  basketwork  of  wooden  strips  and  perished  slowly,  hor- 
ribly, in  the  flames. 

Isolated  though  they  were,  the  Druids  had  somehow  got 
hold  of  the  doctrine,  so  precious  to  priests  of  olden  times, 
that  God  dearly  loves  the  smell  of  human  blood,  the  sound 
of  human  groans. 

Previous  to  the  time  of  the  Druids,  the  tribes  had  wor- 
shipped nature  and  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars ;  the  Druids 
taught  that  there  was  one  Supreme  Ruler,  and  that  the 
soul  of  man  did  not  die,  but  passed  out  of  one  man  into 


r  THE  GAULS  7 

another,  and  so  was  immortal.  They  offered  no  proofs 
upon  this  subject,  but  to  doubt  it  was  heresy  and  death. 

The  Druids  elected  one  of  their  order  as  ruler  over  all. 
His  authority  was  unlimited.  It  was  a  fundamental  doc- 
trine of  this  religion  that  no  priest  should  serve  in  the 
army  or  pay  taxes,  —  a  doctrine,  by  the  way,  which  seems 
to  be  as  ancient  as  organized  religion  itself.  Any  citizen 
who  fell  under  their  displeasure  could  be  cut  off  from  all 
association  with  his  fellows,  or,  as  we  should  say,  ex- 
communicated. 

Associated  with  the  Druids  were  the  bards  and  the 
soothsayers.  Just  as  the  Scotch  Highlanders,  later,  loved 
the  minstrel  and  believed  in  the  second  sight,  so  their 
brethren  across  the  water  loved  the  bard  and  believed  in 
the  soothsayer. 

There  were  no  written  records  of  the  race  among  the 
Gauls;  the  story  of  the  clan,  the  tales  of  its  adventures, 
the  great  deeds  of  the  heroic  dead,  the  memory  of  the 
past,  with  its  glories  and  its  sorrows,  its  inspiration  and 
its  lessons,  all  rested  in  the  rhymed  legends  handed  down 
orally  from  bard  to  bard  through  countless  generations. 

It  was  the  bard  who  sang  at  the  rude  festival,  who 
chanted  the  praise  of  the  chief  in  his  hall,  who  wailed  the 
funeral  dirge,  who  told  in  melody,  and  with  alliteration, 
which  took  the  place  of  rhyme,  the  deeds  of  the  brave  and 
the  virtues  of  the  fair. 

It  was  the  bard,  wandering  about  with  his  tymbal  or 
his  harp,  who  was  the  literature  of  the  simple-minded 
Gaul.  The  veneration  paid  him  by  these  ignorant,  un- 
developed people  awakes  within  us  the  same  feeling  which 
moves  us  when  we  see  the  few  poor  flowers  which  the  wife 
of  the  peasant  has  planted  at  the  door  of  her  leaky  hut. 


8  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

We  recognize  the  inborn  craving  of  the  human  heart  for 
the  beautiful  and  the  elevating. 

No  Walter  Scott  has  left  in  imperishable  rhyme  the 
"  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel "  of  Gaul,  but  he  is  a  pathetic 
figure,  nevertheless,  standing  there  in  bold  relief  on  the 
darkening  background  of  bygone  times,  revered  by  his 
people,  preserving  the  traditions  of  his  race,  inflaming 
the  warrior  to  battle,  or  chanting,  amid  the  deep  and 
shadowy  woods,  his  rugged  hymns  to  God. 

The  soothsayers  were,  likewise,  venerated,  as  they  fore- 
told what  was  going  to  happen.  They  did  this  by  watch- 
ing the  flight  of  birds.  They  had  rules  which  were  known 
at  that  time  to  be  infallible;  and  if  a  certain  number  of 
birds  flew  at  a  certain  time,  in  a  certain  way,  the  sooth- 
sayer could  tell  the  uninitiated  citizen  what  was  $,0  befall 
him.  If  the  thing  which  was  foretold  happened  accord- 
ing to  the  prediction,  this  was  a  sure  sign  that  the  sooth- 
sayer was  divinely  guided.  If  the  thing  foretold  did  not 
happen  as  predicted,  this  was  a  sign  that  the  uninitiated 
citizen  had  not  exercised  the  proper  amount  of  faith.  In 
such  cases  he  had  nobody  but  himself  to  blame  for  his 
disappointment. 

At  other  times,  when  these  soothsayers  were  asked  to 
foretell  the  future,  they  would  search  for  information 
inside  some  goat  or  calf. 

The  priests  of  the  ancient  religions  devoutly  believed 
that  God  hid  the  records  of  future  events  in  the  entrails 
of  certain  animals.  Inasmuch  as  the  priests  stoutly  main- 
tained this  creed  from  generation  to  generation,  and 
threatened  with  divine  wrath  any  scoffer  who  might  deny 
it,  the  doctrine  met  with  universal  acceptance,  being 
handed  down  piously  from  sire  to  son.  In  elegant,  cult- 


I  THE   GAULS  9 

ured  Rome,  as  well  as  in  rude,  unlettered  Gaul,  the  spell 
of  the  priest  hypnotized  the  minds  of  men,  and  no  citizen, 
however  bold,  dared  openly  to  doubt  that  the  secret  of  the 
future  could  be  unveiled  by  ripping  open  the  stomach  of 
some  unoffending  goat. 

If  a  prediction  made  in  this  manner  happened  to  be  veri- 
fied, the  roots  of  the  faith  took  firmer  hold  than  ever;  if 
things  went  in  the  opposite  direction,  it  only  showed  that 
proper  faith  had  not  been  exercised.  Thus,  in  any  possi- 
ble event,  the  priest  serenely  mastered  the  situation  — 
and,  at  his  leisure,  cooked  and  ate  the  goat. 

We  have  seen  that  Gaul  was  peopled  by  many  clans, 
each  with  its  chief,  and  each  independent  of  the  other. 
There  was  no  king  over  them  all. 

Below  the  chiefs  came  the  gentry,  composed  of  those 
who  owned  and  rode  horses.  They  were  called  riders,  and 
they  were  a  privileged  class.  Like  the  chiefs,  they  were 
hard  fighters,  ravenous  eaters,  and  extensively  capable 
drinkers. 

Below  this  lazy,  sensual,  insolent,  privileged  class  came 
the  common  people,  who  were  mostly  serfs,  or  slaves,  and 
who  did  all  of  the  manual  labour.  They  fought  for  the 
lord  when  he  called  them  to  the  wars ;  and,  in  times  of 
peace,  they  fed  him,  clothed  him,  housed  him,  and  bent 
humbly  downwards  when  he  condescended  to  pass  by. 

Sometimes  these  slaves  had  the  honour  of  being  killed  at 
their  lord's  funeral,  and  burnt  on  the  same  pyre,  along 
with  his  armour,  his  dogs,  and  his  horses.  The  idea  was 
that  the  lord,  upon  arriving  in  the  next  world,  would  be 
gratified  at  finding  his  slaves  ready  to  serve  him  there  as 
they  had  done  here. 

But  high  as  was  the  station  of  the  chiefs,  that  of  the 


10  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Druids  was  higher  still.  Representing  God,  claiming 
divine  power,  practising  mysterious  rites,  they  exercised 
over  the  minds  of  nobles  and  people  a  despotic  tyranny, 
based  on  ignorance  and  cemented  by  the  blood  of  human 
sacrifice. 

Greeks,  Romans,  Persians,  and  other  older  peoples  pro- 
fessed a  contempt  for  ruder  nations,  and  rarely  gave  truth- 
ful accounts  of  them ;  but  in  comparing  the  Celts,  or  Gauls, 
with  those  who  pretended  to  monopolize  the  national  vir- 
tues of  those  ages  there  is  one  tremendous  fact  to  be 
remembered.  The  Greeks,  Egyptians,  and  Asiatics  gen- 
erally, and,  for  at  least  one  short  period,  the  Romans,  fell 
into  the  depths  of  phallic  worship,  and  the  Gauls,  Goths, 
Huns,  and  Vandals  never  did.  It  was  in  the  exquisite 
porticos  of  Greece  and  amid  the  delicious  refinements  of 
Asiatic  luxury,  that  men  of  the  most  cultured,  but  effemi- 
nate tastes  worshipped  the  God  of  drunkenness,  and  the 
Goddess  of  illicit  love. 

Brutal  as  the  Gaul  might  be,  his  vices  were  those  of  a 
man ;  he  did  not  cultivate  self-abasement  and  make  it  a 
fine  art.  His  was  the  lust  of  strong,  natural  passion ;  his 
drunkenness  was  fitful,  like  his  fighting ;  he  did  not  ele- 
vate his  vices  into  a  religion,  as  did  the  highly  civilized 
nobles  of  Asia,  Greece,  and  Rome. 

By  the  law  of  nations,  as  practised  by  Greeks  and 
Romans,  the  stranger,  unless  a  guest,  was  an  enemy,  who 
might  be  killed  without  ceremony.  The  Gauls,  on  the 
other  hand,  threw  open  the  door  to  him,  invited  him  to 
the  feast,  and  gave  Greece  and  Rome  an  immensely 
important  lesson  in  humanity  and  hospitality. 

The  tribal  system  does  not  encourage  national  develop- 
ment, and  the  Gauls  were  no  exceptions  to  the  rule. 


i  THE   GAULS  11 

Agriculture  was  primitive,  and  manufactures  limited  to 
the  simplest  forms. 

A  few  iron  mines  were  worked ;  a  small  quantity  of  gold 
was  washed  from  the  mountain  streams ;  and  ornamental 
work  in  silver  was  done  on  a  small  scale. 

A  few  walled  towns  existed,  and  many  open  villages. 
Roads  and  bridges  made  commercial  intercourse  conven- 
ient. As  a  matter  of  fact,  these  Gauls  were  the  first 
people  who  ever  attempted  ocean  traffic  in  sailing  ves- 
sels. They  had  a  regular  trade,  through  this  means, 
with  the  tin  mines  of  England  hundreds  of  years  before 
Christ. 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  despotic  tyranny  of  the  priests, 
and  the  selfish,  brutal  policy  of  their  chieftains,  these 
Celts  might  have  developed  a  splendid  civilization.  They 
belonged  to  the  same  family  as  the  Irish  of  to-day.  They 
were  brave,  and  proud,  and  imaginative.  They  loved 
poetry  and  song.  Their  conception  of  religion,  in  its  es- 
sential thought,  was  nearer  the  truth  than  that  of  most 
of  the  older  people.  They  were  faithful  to  treaties,  true 
to  friends,  and  fair  to  foes.  But,  under  their  system  of 
government,  religious  and  political,  their  fine  individual 
qualities  were  offered  no  opportunities  for  expanding  into 
national  greatness. 

Another  thing  which  made  it  impossible  for  the  Gauls 
to  achieve  civilization  was  the  want  of  money.  Produce 
found  no  market,  and  therefore  production  found  no  stimu- 
lus. The  chiefs  coined  a  small  quantity  of  metallic 
money,  but  it  was  not  enough  to  encourage  commerce. 
When  a  clumsy  wooden  vessel,  with  almost  sublime  cour- 
age, braved  the  dangers  of  the  English  Channel  and  sought 
traffic  with  the  tin  mines  in  England,  it  was  Gaulish  prod- 


12  THE  STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

uce  which  was  exchanged  for  British  produce.     It  was  a 
rude  barter  of  commodities  in  bulk. 

As  long  as  commerce  is  bound  down  to  these  limits,  it 
can  do  little.  It  is  only  when  we  advance  from  the  stage 
of  barter  to  that  of  sales,  that  we  can  so  stimulate  com- 
merce as  to  develop  the  resources  of  a  country. 

The  common  people  in  Gaul  had  to  go  to  the  chiefs  and 
the  nobles  for  money,  and  were  compelled  to  accept  what- 
ever terms  were  imposed.  These  conditions  were  so  hard 
that  to  fall  into  debt  was  equivalent  to  lapsing  into  slavery. 

As  a  proof  of  the  extreme  scarcity  of  money  and  the 
value  it  possessed  in  comparison  with  human  life,  histo- 
rians tell  us  that  a  citizen  would  sometimes  pledge  his 
life  for  a  sum  of  money  arid  then,  when  the  "day  of  judg- 
ment "  came,  would  silently  offer  his  neck  to  the  sword 
of  the  executioner. 

B.C.  About  300  years  before  the  Christian  era,  the  chiefs 
made  an  effort  to  rid  themselves  of  the  tyranny  of  the 
Druids.  Taking  advantage  of  the  opportunity  thus  af- 
forded, the  common  people,  particularly  those  of  the  towns, 
attempted  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  the  chiefs.  Civil  war 
ensued.  The  Druids  took  sides  with  the  people  against 
the  chiefs.  In  some  tribes,  the  chief  made  himself  king; 
in  others,  the  nobles  were  overthrown,  and  a  democratic 
government  adopted.  The  people  maintained  the  right 
to  meet  in  public  assemblies,  to  discuss  public  affairs. 

This  revolution  might  have  been  lastingly  beneficial  to 
the  Gauls  in  the  course  of  time,  but  its  immediate  result 
was  to  increase  internal  feuds,  and  render  national  union 
impossible. 

We  know  very  little  about  the  internal  affairs  of  Gaul, 
because  they  were  a  people  who  kept  no  records.  When 


i  THE   GAULS  13 

the  bard  died,  the  primitive  archives  of  the  nation  were 
gone. 

We  do  know,  however,  that  the  country  eventually 
became  densely  populated,  that  agriculture  flourished, 
that  towns  multiplied,  and  that  commerce  and  manu- 
factures slowly  and  painfully  came  into  existence.  Those 
great  cities  of  modern  France,  Lyons,  Marseilles,  Orleans, 
Bordeaux,  Paris,  were  thriving  towns  long  before  the 
Roman  Conquest.  In  fact,  the  Romans  had  begun  to 
look  upon  the  fertile  province  with  longing  eyes  —  hav- 
ing for  it  the  same  desire  that  the  Christian  nations  of 
Europe,  at  the  present  day,  have  for  heathen  lands  where 
the  soil  is  good  and  the  natives  weak. 

The  trade  of  Gaul  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Roman  mer-    B.c. 
chants,  and  the  Italian  usurer  had  spread  his  net  all  over    10° 
the  land.     Many  of  the  fruitful  farms  had  passed  into  the 
ownership  of  absentee  Roman  landlords,  for  in  business 
affairs  the  unlettered  native  was  no  match  for  the  Italian 
speculator.     For  a  jar  of  wine,  the  Roman  could  buy  a 
slave ;  for  a  gaudy  cloak,  a  field. 

Rome  at  this  time  was  still  moving  onward  in  her 
career  of  conquest,  but  she  was  torn  by  factions  at  home. 
Ambitious  party-chiefs  fiercely  contended  for  supremacy. 
The  Roman  forum  had  become  familiar  with  riots  and 
corrupt  elections. 

Marius  and  Sylla  had  already  fought  out  their  feud,  B.C. 
and,  alternately,  made  the  streets  of  the  Sacred  City  run  82 
with  Roman  blood.  Catiline  had  already  conspired ;  and  B-c- 

62 

the  long  and  splendid  career  of  the  cruel,  but  dauntless 
Roman  Republic  was  drawing  to  a  close. 

Roman  senators  were  corrupt;  Roman  governors  were 
corrupt;  Roman  aristocracy  was  corrupt;  Roman  democracy 


14  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

was  corrupt.     The  soil  was  ready  to  receive  the  tree  which 
Caesar  was  to  plant:  military  despotism. 

Appointments  in  the  service  of  the  state  were  sought  in 
order  that  private  fortunes  might  be  made.  Provinces 
were  plundered  with  pitiless  rapacity.  Senatorial  votes 
were  sold  with  shameless  frequency;  verdicts  were  bought 
and  sold  in  the  courts ;  peace  had  its  price,  and  so  had 
war.  The  greed  for  money,  the  craving  for  luxury,  the 
wild  chase  after  sensual  pleasures,  were  gnawing  with 
fatal  vigour  at  the  very  vitals  of  the  Roman  state. 

Caesar  himself  had  been  a  libertine,  a  gambler,  a  spend- 
thrift, a  conspirator.  Related  to  Marius  and  friendly  to 
Catiline,  he  had  come  to  maturity  amid  scenes  of  vice,  of 
disorder,  and  of  crime.  An  aristocrat  of  the  highest  rank, 
a  senator  by  birth,  a  politician  by  nature,  he  had  had  every 
opportunity  to  look  into  the  deepest  mysteries  of*the  body 
politic,  and  he  may  already  have  formed  the  design  of  win- 
ning military  renown,  amassing  treasure,  bribing  or  over- 
throwing rivals,  and  seizing  with  iron  hand  the  helm  of 
a  distracted  state. 

B.C.  Be  this  as  it  may,  it  is  certain  that  no  conqueror  ever 
58-50  Burned  his  opportunities  more  remorselessly  into  cash  than 
did  Caesar  when  he  invaded  and  conquered  Gaul.  He  was 
one  of  the  boldest  money-hunters  that  ever  plundered  a 
temple,  confiscated  an  estate,  or  sold  a  nation  under  the 
hammer  of  the  auctioneer. 

He  and  all  his  friends  amassed  fortunes  in  the  campaign 
—  partly  from  the  seizure  of  lands,  partly  from  the  spolia- 
tion of  towns,  partly  from  the  plunder  of  temples,  and 
partly  by  selling  into  slavery  1,500,000  human  beings 
whose  only  offence  was  that  they  had  fought  for  their 
homes. 


i  THE   GAULS  15 

It  would  not  serve  my  purpose  to  describe  the  marches, 
and  the  battles,  and  the  intrigues,  by  which  Csesar,  at  the 
head  of  a  disciplined  army,  subdued  disorderly  mobs  of 
Gauls,  led  on  by  jealous  chieftains.  It  is  enough  to  say 
that  he  took  more  than  eighty  towns  by  storm,  conquered 
300  tribes,  fought,  during  the  eight  years,  13,000,000 
of  men,  destroyed  1,000,000  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  sold 
1,500,000  into  slavery. 

During  the  entire  conflict  the  Gauls  were  never  able  to 
concentrate  and  utilize  their  strength.  Like  the  Scottish 
clans,  they  were  eternally  split  up  by  tribal  hatreds. 
Csesar  was  able  to  keep  them  divided  and  to  have  under 
his  eagles,  in  nearly  every  engagement,  a  large  body  of 
Gaulish  auxiliaries,  fighting  their  own  countrymen. 

Only  one  great  leader  appeared  on  the  Gaulish  side 
during  the  struggle.  This  was  Vercingetorix,  a  chieftain 
of  the  Arvernians.  After  the  strength  of  his  countrymen 
had  been  almost  exhausted  by  six  years  of  warfare,  con- 
ducted by  separate  clans,  he  succeeded  in  organizing  a 
general  confederacy  against  the  Roman  oppressors.  At 
first  he  was  successful.  He  defeated  Csesar  in  battle  and 
brought  him  almost  to  ruin.  But  the  jealousies  of  the 
chieftains  weakened  the  hands  of  the  great  patriotic  leader, 
and  his  army  surrendered.  He  might  have  escaped,  but 
he  scorned  to  do  so.  He  offered  to  deliver  himself  to  the 
Romans  as  a  sacrifice  for  his  people.  His  officers  meanly 
accepted  his  offer. 

Mounted  on  his  horse  and  fully  armed,  he  rode  into 
Caesar's  camp,  rode  round  the  tribunal  upon  which  Caesar 
was  sitting  to  receive  him,  then  dismounted  and  put  away 
his  weapons,  and  sat  down,  in  silence,  at  Caesar's  feet  — 
making  with  his  hands  a  mute  appeal  for  mercy. 


16  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP,  i 

The  sacrifice  was  grandly  patriotic,  but  extremely  fool- 
ish. It  accomplished  nothing  whatever,  except  the  cap- 
tivity and  death  of  a  brave  man  who  deserved  to  live.  He 
was  kept  in  prison  at  Rome  ten  years,  till  Caesar's  wars 
with  Pompey  and  his  adherents  were  ended.  Then  he 
was  led  in  triumph  in  the  procession  at  the  celebration  of 
Caesar's  victories,  and  while  the  successful  usurper  was 
returning  thanks  to  his  gods,  on  Capitol  Hill,  the  unsuc- 
cessful patriot  had  his  head  struck  off  in  the  dungeon 
below. 

Thus  ran  the  stern  old  Roman  maxim :  "  Vse  victis  " 
woe  to  the  vanquished. 


CHAPTER  II 


MIGRATION  OF  TRIBES  AND  INVASIONS  OF  THK  GOTHS  AND  HUNS 

TTTHEREVER  Rome  extended  her  power,  she  imposed 
her  laws,  her  language,  and  her  learning.  With 
questions  of  religion  she  rarely  meddled,  unless  they 
interfered  with  her  administration. 

In  Gaul,  the  Roman  rule  soon  effected  great  changes. 
The  country  was  divided  into  provinces  and  put  under 
imperial  tax-collectors  and  governors.  The  city  of  Lyons 
became  its  capital,  and  the  emperors  frequently  resided 
there  and  made  it  the  scene  of  magnificent  display  and 
adornment.  Fine  public  buildings  were  erected,  a  mint 
for  the  coinage  of  money  established,  splendid  walls  were 
built  to  protect  it  from  without,  and  theatres  and  marble 
baths  embellished  it  within.  Great  roads  were  opened, 
while  schools  were  founded  in  the  cities,  and  the  rude 
nobility  began  to  attend  them.  Manufactories  were  en- 
couraged, and  the  cloth  made  in  Gaul  was  soon  in  demand 
in  all  parts  of  the  empire.  Law  courts  were  established 
according  to  the  Roman  rule,  and  the  Latin  language  took 
the  place  of  the  Celtic  —  except  in  Brittany,  where  the 
original  tongue  survives  to  this  day,  just  as  it  does  in 
Wales  and  in  parts  of  Ireland. 

The  Druids  were  suppressed  because  they  practised 
human  sacrifices,  and  also  because  they  meddled  with  state 
c  17 


18  THE   STOEY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

affairs.  They  were  eternally  hatching  schemes  to  throw 
off  the  Roman  yoke  and  reimpose  their  own.  For  many 
years  after  they  were  prohibited  by  law  from  offering  up 
human  beings  on  the  altar,  they  continued  those  ghastly 
ceremonies  in  secret. 

Agriculture  was  encouraged.  Sheep  took  the  place  of 
wild  hogs,  and  cultivated  fields  gradually  supplanted  un- 
fenced  pastures.  In  the  time  of  Caesar  the  climate  of  Gaul 
was  very  severe.  The  great  rivers  often  froze  over  with 
ice  so  thick  that  armies  could  cross  without  danger. 

The  vine  and  the  olive  were  unknown.  The  climate 
was  too  cold  for  them.  But  as  the  vast,  dismal  woods  were 
gradually  cut  away  the  temperature  grew  milder.  The 
vine  and  the  olive  were  planted  in  the  southern  portion  of 
the  land,  and  pushed,  step  by  step,  all  over  it.  The  re- 
sult is  that  for  many  centuries  the  wine  of  France  has  been 
famous  throughout  the  world,  and  her  olives  form  one  of 
her  most  valuable  crops.  Instead  of  being  considered  a 
dismal,  chilly,  and  dangerous  climate,  France  is  now  one 
of  the  sunniest  and  healthiest  of  lands,  so  great  has  been 
the  change  wrought  by  the  axe  and  the  plough. 

The  Romans  utilized  the  courage  of  the  Gauls  by  enlist- 
ing them  in  their  armies.  The  infantry  thus  obtained 
was  good,  but  the  cavalry  was  unrivalled.  In  fact,  Csesar 
owed  much  of  his  success  in  all  his  wars,  especially  his 
late  ones,  to  the  Gallic  soldiers. 

After  subduing  them  he  had  treated  them  with  the  clem- 
ency of  a  broad-minded  statesman,  and  he  even  admitted 
Gallic  nobles  into  the  Roman  Senate,  — an  act  which  drew 
down  upon  him  the  intense  hatred  of  the  exclusive  aris- 
tocracy of  Rome,  and  furnished  one  of  the  motives  for  his 
murder. 


ii  GAUL  AS  A  ROMAN  PROVINCE  19 

Many  of  the  Gauls  had  the  Roman  franchise  bestowed 
upon  them,  and  many  of  their  cities  enjoyed  special  privi- 
leges granted  by  the  emperors.  During  these  years  of 
Roman  supremacy,  the  nobles  of  Gaul  built  splendid  cas- 
tles along  the  Rhine  and  Moselle,  and  lived  in  great 
luxury.  They  sent  their  young  men  to  the  Roman  schools, 
and  the  educational  course  was  not  considered  complete 
till  a  visit  had  been  made  to  Rome  and  to  the  emperor's 
court. 

Thus  things  went,  in  the  upper  world.  With  the  actual 
labourers  in  Gaul,  life  was  not  so  pleasant.  In  nearly  all 
cases  the  man  who  followed  the  plough  was  a  serf.  He  was 
bound  to  the  soil,  and,  Avhen  the  estate  was  sold,  he  went 
with  it,  just  as  the  other  plough-tools  did.  No  school 
opened  its  doors  to  him.  No  hope  of  promotion  invited 
his  ambition.  Only  in  the  army  could  a  poor  man,  born 
of  the  peasants,  expect  to  hew  his  way  to  the  front,  and 
even  in  the  army  it  was  extremely  rare  that  a  peasant  rose 
to  distinction. 

Yet,  to  make  his  lot  severer,  taxes  were  heavier  on  land 
and  produce  than  on  anything  else,  and  the  tax-collector 
had  almost  unlimited  power. 

As  illustrative  of  the  times,  we  are  told  by  historians 
that  Ccesar  had  liberated  a  slave  named  Licinius,  and  had 
given  him  an  office.  He  was  so  useful  to  his  Roman  mas- 
ters that  he  was  promoted,  and  finally  became  one  of  the 
tax-collectors  under  Caesar's  nephew,  Augustus.  Licinius 
was  a  robber,  and  had  been  so  exceedingly  cruel  and 
greedy  in  his  exactions,  that  when  the  emperor  came  into 
Gaul  the  people  indignantly  denounced  their  oppressor. 
The  emperor  decided  to  punish  the  scoundrel,  but  was  led 
away  from  his  purpose  by  a  shrewd  trick.  Licinius  carried 


20  THE   STOBY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

the  emperor  to  the  vaults  where  his  plunder  was  stored, 
and  said :  "  Behold  the  treasure  I  have  gathered.  I  was 
afraid  if  Gauls  kept  so  much  gold  they  would  use  it 
against  thee.  I  now  deliver  it  to  thee." 

Augustus  received  the  stolen  goods,  and  let  the  thief 
go  his  way  unpunished.  Of  course  Licinius,  when  the 
emperor  had  returned  to  Rome,  went  on  robbing  the  help- 
less people  worse  than  ever. 

Such  instances  as  this  prove  the  abuses  to  which  the 
Roman  government  was  subject,  and  we  can  imagine  how 
the  spirit  of  a  brave  people  was  worn  away  and  broken  by 
it.  There  was  more  wealth  in  Gaul  than  there  had  been, 
but  the  national  spirit  had  nothing  round  which  it  could 
build  a  civilization  which  would  improve  the  entire  people 
morally,  as  well  as  materially.  The  Gaulish  nobles 
erected  splendid  temples,  but  they  were  dedicated  to 
pagan  gods.  The  religion  of  the  Druids  had  been  sup- 
pressed, but  no  better  one  had  been  introduced.  The 
minds  of  the  people  were  left  without  a  single  great  motive 
power  which  could  elevate  them  to  nobler  things. 

Devoured  by  taxes  and  social  oppressions  of  every  sort, 
the  working  classes  rose  in  rebellion  against  the  govern- 
ment. A  writer  of  those  times,  Lactantius,  describes  the 
causes  of  the  outbreak  in  these  words :  — 

"So  enormous  had  the  taxes  become  that  the  strength 
of  the  tiller  of  the  soil  was  exhausted ;  fields  became  des- 
erts, and  farms  were  changed  into  forests.  The  tax-col- 
lectors measured  the  land  by  the  clod ;  trees,  vines,  were 
all  counted;  the  cattle  were  marked,  the  people  registered. 
Old  age  or  sickness  was  no  excuse;  the  sick  and  the  infirm 
were  brought  up;  everyone's  age  was  put  down;  a  few 
years  were  added  to  that  of  the  children,  and  taken  off 


„  GAUL  AS  A  ROMAN  PROVINCE  21 

from  that  of  the  aged.  Meanwhile  the  cattle  decreased, 
the  people  died,  and  there  was  no  deduction  made  for  the 
dead." 

The  wrongs  were  great,  the  cause  was  good,  but  the 
heaviest  battalions  won,  as  usual,  and  the  imperial  armies 
put  down,  with  disciplined  inhumanity,  the  insurrection 
of  the  oppressed. 

Under  the  Emperor  Augustus,  Gaulish  nobles  were  ex- 
cluded from  the  Roman  Senate,  but  Claudius,  who  was 
born  in  Gaul,  readmitted  them,  and  they  steadily  continued 
to  occupy  civil  and  military  positions  of  the  highest  im- 
portance. Gaulish'  generals  commanded  Roman  armies ; 
Gaulish  nobles  influenced  imperial  policies.  The  imperial 
purple  itself  was  worn  by  several  natives  of  Gaul ;  and  the 
wisest  and  best  of  all  the  emperors,  Antoninus  Pius,  was 
a  Gaul,  who  had  risen  to  the  mastership  of  the  Roman 
world. 

Numerous  attempts  were  made  by  the  Gauls  to  throw 
off  the  yoke,  but  the  Roman  legions  were  not  yet  to  be 
withstood. 

One  of  these  revolts  occurred  in  the  reign  of  Nero  — 
the  last  of  the  twelve  Roman  emperors  called  "the 
Csesars,"  and  a  monster  of  cruelty  and  lust. 

The  leader  of  the  insurrection  was  Vindex,  the  son  of   A.D. 
a  Romanized  Gaul,  whose  father  had  become  a  Roman  68~70 
senator.     The  time  was  ripe  for  revolt.     Universal  unrest 
prevailed  among  all  classes  of  people,  and  the  commingled 
atrocities  and  buffooneries  of  Nero  had  provoked  profound 
hatred  and  contempt. 

Vindex  denounced  the  emperor  in  public  harangues, 
holding  him  up  to  scorn  and  righteous  wrath.  Nero  had 
murdered  his  closest  friends,  his  wife,  his  concubine,  his 


22  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

mother;  had  crimsoned  the  sands  of  the  amphitheatre  with 
the  innocent  blood  of  Christian  martyrs ;  had  turned  the 
Golden  House  into  a  vast  brothel,  where  he  publicly 
caroused  with  privileged  libertines ;  and  had  degraded  even 
his  mad  thirst  for  blood  by  a  madder  thirst  for  theatrical 
accomplishments  and  slavish  applause. 

Vindex  arraigned  him  for  all  this;  arraigned  him  as 
tyrant,  murderer,  monster  of  cruelty,  and  contemptible 
buffoon. 

The  people  of  Gaul  flew  to  arms,  and  Vindex  was  soon 
at  the  head  of  100,000  men. 

When  Nero  heard  of  the  insurrection,  he  was  enjoying 
himself  at  one  of  the  imperial  villas  near  Rome ;  and  he 
was  disposed  to  take  a  cheerful  view  of  the  situation. 
The  thought  of  the  confiscations,  which  would  follow  the 
suppression  of  the  revolt,  filled  him  with  the  delights  of 
anticipation.  He  sank  back  into  his  sensual  sloth,  and 
let  the  flames  of  rebellion  spread. 

Vindex  led  his  untrained  mob  into  the  field,  was  met 
by  the  highly  disciplined  legions  of  Rome,  and  was  de- 
feated. In  the  hurry  and  excitement  of  the  moment,  he 
committed  suicide.  Had  he  waited  ever  so  short  a  time, 
he  would  have  witnessed  the  downfall  and  death  of  Nero, 
and  the  independence  of  Gaul  might  have  been  won 
while  contending  claimants  were  battling  for  the  vacant 
throne. 

One  of  the  chieftains  who  were  engaged  in  the  rebellion 
which  Vindex  had  stirred  up  claimed  to  be  a  great-grand- 
son of  an  illegitimate  child  of  Julius  Caesar.  His  name 
was  Sabinus.  After  the  defeat  and  death  of  Vindex,  he 
took  refuge  in  the  vaults  of  his  palace,  and  caused  a  faith- 
ful slave  to  burn  down  the  house  above,  and  to  spread  the 


a  GAUL  AS  A  ROMAN  PROVINCE  23 

report  that  he  was  dead.  Only  two  servants  knew  the 
secret  and  the  way  into  the  vaults. 

Even  the  wife  of  Sabinus  supposed  him  dead  till  the 
slaves  told  her  the  truth.  At  night  she  would  visit  her 
husband,  stealing  away  again  when  day  approached,  and 
thus  the  two  lived  for  nine  long  years.  Several  children 
were  born  to  them  in  those  dark,  underground  vaults. 

Then,  in  an  evil  hour  they  set  out  to  Rome,  to  ask  par- 
don of  the  emperor  —  scarcely  doubting  that  after  so  man}' 
years  the  imperial  wrath  would  be  cooled.  Vespasian 
occupied  the  Roman  throne  at  that  time.  To  his  eternal 
shame,  he  rejected  the  plea  for  mercy,  and  ordered  that 
Sabinus  should  be  put  to  death.  His  wife  asked  to  share 
his  fate.  "I  have  been  more  happy  with  him,"  said  she, 
"under  the  ground,  out  of  the  light  of  day,  than  thou 
hast  been  in  all  the  splendour  of  thine  empire."  The  cruel 
monarch  granted  her  request,  and  the  husband  and  wife 
died  together. 

There  is  a  well-known  painting,  frequently  reproduced, 
which  means  a  multitude  of  things  to  him  who  studies  it 
well.  Its  scene  is  the  imperial  palace  at  Ravenna,  where 
Honorius,  one  of  the  last  of  the  Roman  emperors  of  the 
West,  has  taken  up  his  residence.  The  emperor  himself 
is  represented  seated  upon  his  chair  of  state.  He  looks 
languid,  fatuous,  elegantly  null.  He  is  petting  and  feed- 
ing some  tame  pigeons.  His  courtiers  stand  about  him 
deeply  absorbed  in  the  imperial  pastime.  A  little  further 
away,  as  though  they  had  just  entered  the  door,  are  some 
envoys,  messengers  who  bear  evil  tidings.  They  are 
bowing  and  scraping  before  the  emperor,  waiting  till  he 
shall  have  wearied  of  his  labours  with  the  pet  doves. 
They  are  there  to  tell  him  that  the  Goths  have  revolted, 


24  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

and  are  dismembering  his  empire.  They  are  there  to  re- 
mind him  that  the  twelve  centuries  allotted  by  an  ancient 
prediction  as  the  time  of  the  dominion  of  Rome  have  well- 
nigh  expired,  and  that  the  shadow  of  Attila  and  his  Huns 
is  about  to  fall  upon  the  terror-stricken  world. 

The  riches  of  a  plundered  universe  had  poured  in  upon 
the  Roman  Empire  and  corrupted  it  to  the  very  core.  In 
Rome  and  in  Constantinople,  the  two  capitals,  the  same 
life  was  led,  and  every  conceivable  license  given  to  the 
baser  appetites  of  men.  Fabulously  splendid  palaces  were 
reared  in  which  the  nights  were  given  to  debauchery,  the 
days  to  sleep,  idleness,  or  aimless  recreation.  In  the 
loveliest  gardens  of  the  world,  revels  took  place  which 
would  have  shamed  a  savage.  In  splendid  banquet  halls, 
gluttony  went  to  lengths  which  would  have  disgusted  a 
hungry  beast.  Private  life  was  tainted  beyond  redemp- 
tion ;  and  the  public  service  fed  harpies  from  one  end  of 
the  empire  to  the  other. 

Romans  would  no  longer  enlist  and  fight,  so  barbarians 
were  hired  to  defend  the  enfeebled  libertines. 

Slaves  infested  every  palace  and  farm  in  fabulous  num- 
bers. Four  hundred  often  served  in  one  household;  4000 
belonged  to  the  average  estate  of  the  noble.  The  Roman 
aristocrat  depended  on  his  slaves  for  everything;  they 
must  wash  him,  clothe  him,  wait  upon  him,  read  to  him, 
sing  to  him,  bear  him  through  the  streets,  cater  to  his  ap- 
petites, and  minister  to  his  lusts.  The  Roman  himself 
was  become  too  effeminate  for  any  task  whatsoever  in- 
volving robust  manhood. 

For  a  brief  season,  barbarians  will  hire  themselves  to 
fight  barbarians,  and  thus  a  tottering  throne  may  be 
supported.  Stilicho,  the  Vandal,  is  the  prop  of  Honorius 


ii  GAUL  AS  A  ROMAN  PROVINCE  25 

just  as  Theodoric,  the  Visigoth,  and  Merovius,  the  Frank, 
aided  Aetius,  the  Scythian,  on  the  Catalaunian  plains  in 
turning  back  the  horde  of  invading  Huns;  and  just  as 
Arbogast,  the  Frank,  had  upheld  the  Emperor  Eugenius. 
After  a  while,  some  Goth,  like  Odoacer,  will  tire  of  the 
farce;  and  he  will  take  the  crown  off  the  head  of  the 
worthless  Roman,  and  put  it  on  his  own. 

All  this  we  may  think  of,  as  we  gaze  upon  the  pict- 
ure where  Honorius  feeds  poultry,  and  bowing  mes- 
sengers wait  to  tell  him  that  the  Goths  are  in  revolt,  and 
the  Roman  world  falling  to  pieces. 

Toward  the  middle  of  the  second  century  after  Christ, 
there  had  appeared  evidences  of  a  great  movement  among 
the  people  whom  the  Romans  called  barbarians.  Strange 
tribes,  in  vast  numbers,  began  to  press  upon  the  borders 
of  the  empire,  and  to  tax  the  utmost  energies  of  the 
emperors  to  hold  them  in  check. 

It  was  a  remarkable  thing  to  see  great  nations  moving 
in  a  body  from  one  country  to  another;  men,  women, 
children,  cattle,  household  goods,  all  moving  at  once. 
What  the  true  causes  of  these  migrations  were  we  shall 
never  know.  It  is  supposed,  however,  that  the  wild 
hordes  on  the  great  plains  of  central  Asia  gave  the  first 
impulse  to  the  onward  tide.  On  the  one  hand,  it  beat 
against  the  frontiers  of  China  on  the  extreme  east,  and, 
on  the  other,  it  swept  over  the  borders  of  the  Roman 
world  on  the  extreme  west. 

The  people  who  gave  rise  to  this  mighty  commotion, 
this  almost  universal  migratory  movement,  belonged  to 
the  same  race  as  the  Tartars,  or  Mongols.  They  were  low 
in  stature,  wild  in  appearance,  ugly  in  visage,  and  ruth- 
less in  conduct.  They  carried  terror  wherever  they  went, 


26  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

and  it  was  the  boast  of  one  of  their  leaders  that  no  grass 
ever  grew  where  his  horse  had  trod.  Pushing  round  the 
Black  Sea,  and  crossing  the  mighty  rivers  which  pour  into 
it,  they  pressed  onward  to  the  Danube  and  the  Rhine, 
forcing  before  them  the  nations  which  occupied  these  re- 
gions. The  Goths  were  driven  almost  bodily  out  of  their 
territory,  and  compelled  to  seek  shelter  within  the  Roman 
borders.  The  Vandals,  the  Sueves,  the  Burgundians,  the 
Alans,  all  pushed  forward  to  seize  new  homes,  and  found 
lodgment  in  Spain,  Gaul,  Italy,  and  Germany. 
A.D.  Alaric,  the  Gothic  king,  in  the  year  410,  captured 
410  Rome  itself,  and  organized  several  of  its  provinces  into 
his  kingdom. 

Genseric,  the  Vandal,  established  an  empire,  in  the 
Roman  provinces  of  Africa,  and  made  Carthage  his  capital. 
A.D.  In  the  year  455,  he  anchored  his  fleet  in  the  Tiber  and 
landed  his  troops  for  the  pillage  of  Rome.  He  seized 
upon  its  wealth,  and  carried  away  thousands  of  captives. 
Among  his  treasures  were  the  golden  table  and  the  golden 
candlestick  brought  by  Titus  from  Jerusalem.  He  also 
bore  away  to  Carthage  the  Christian  Empress  Eudoxia, 
whose  wrongs  and  whose  invitation  had  brought  the  Van- 
dals to  the  walls  of  Rome.  The  lives  of  the  citizens  were 
spared  at  the  intercession  of  the  Pope. 

Many  centuries  before,  Rome  had  cruelly  and  vindic- 
tively waged  war  against  Carthage ;  had  burnt  the  proud 
city  to  the  ground ;  had  driven  the  plough  over  her  streets, 
and  sown  the  site  with  salt.  Behold  the  changes  of  the 
slow-moving  years !  Carthage  was  once  more  a  great  city, 
and  had  pillaged  every  temple  and  palace  in  Rome. 

The  most  dreaded  of  all  these  hurrying  and  shifting 
nations  were  the  Huns,  whose  Asiatic  origin  and  appear- 


ii  GAUL  AS  A   ROMAN  PROVINCE  27 

ance  I  have  already  described.  Their  greatest  leader  was 
Attila,  a  man  who  inspired  such  fear  that  his  enemies 
named  him  "the  scourge  of  God." 

He  established  a  huge  kingdom  in  what  is  now  called 
Russia,  Austria,  Hungary,  and  Germany;  and  founded  a 
capital  city  on  the  bank  of  the  Danube,  which  in  our  day 
is  called  Buda.  He  was  no  mere  savage  or  marauder. 
He  was  a  great  organizer  of  peoples,  and  a  general  of 
ability. 

On  the  soil  of  France,  his  onward  career  of  conquest 
was  permanently  checked  in  the  year  451. 

In  the  battle  of  Chalons,  the  mighty  host  of  Attila  and    A.D. 
his  Huns  was  met  by  the  army  of  the  Romans,   Gauls,    451 
Franks,  and  Visigoths,  who  had  combined  to  resist  the 
invaders.     The  struggle  was  tremendous,  and  it  is  said 
that  165,000  men  were  slain. 

Attila  was  defeated,  but  was  still  so  formidable  that,  as 
he  sullenly  withdrew  from  the  French  territory,  his  ene- 
mies did  not  dare  to  attack  him.     Returning  to  his  capi- 
tal, he  soon  after  stormed  and  sacked  the  city  of  Aquileia    A.D. 
and  threatened  to  storm  Rome  itself.     He  was  only  de-    452 
terred  from  his  purpose  by  the  intercession  of  Pope  Leo, 
and  by  the  payment  of  a  very  large  sum  of  money. 

This  great  ruler  of  men  lived  some  two  years  longer, 
and  then  died  in  his  rude  palace  one  night,  after  he  had    A.D. 
celebrated,  with  much  eating  and  drinking,  his  marriage    453 
with  a  beautiful  girl  whom  he  wished  to  add  to  his  already 
large  number  of  wives. 

The  battle  of  Chalons  is  called  one  of  the  decisive  battles 
of  the  world,  because  it  put  a  stop  to  the  tide  of  Asiatic 
conquest.  It  was  a  struggle  of  the  Western  peoples, 
their  laws,  religion,  and  civilization,  against  the  savage 


28  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP.  11 

onslaught  of  the  Mongolian  hordes.  When  the  sun  set  on 
that  fearful  day,  the  issue  was  decided.  The  Eastern  tide 
rolled  back.  The  West,  with  its  Roman  laws,  Roman 
culture,  its  German  ideas  of  individual  freedom,  and  its 
religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  was  left  to  work  its  way,  onward 
and  upward,  to  civilization. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  FRANKS 


A.D. 


rpOWARD  the  close  of  the  fifth  century  appeared  the 
Franks, — robust,  fearless,  dominant,  —  and  before  their 
resistless  march  fell  degenerate  Romans  and  Gauls  alike. 

What  a  picture  of  barbaric  strength  do  they  present  as 
they  come  bursting  through  the  feeble  defences  of  the 
Roman  frontiers,  and  seizing  upon  the  rich  domains  of 
the  tottering  empire !  Clothed  in  the  skins  of  bears,  seals, 
and  wild  boars ;  their  triangular  line  of  battle  presenting 
a  bristling  mass  of  javelins;  their  huge  chariots;  their 
fierce  looks,  wild  cries,  shaggy  hair,  huge  stature  —  all 
combine  to  make  a  spectacle  at  once  savage  and  fascinating. 

Hear  their  battle  hymn :  — 

"  Pharamond !  Pharamond!  We  have  fought  with  the 
sword. 

"  We  have  hurled  the  battle-axe ;  sweat  ran  from  the  brows 
of  the  warriors  and  trickled  down  their  arms. 

"The  eagles  screamed  with  joy;  the  crows  swam  in  the 
blood  of  the  slain ;  all  ocean  was  but  a  wound. 

"The  virgins  long  have  wept.  Pharamond!  Pharamond! 
We  have  fought  with  the  sword. 

"  Our  fathers  fell  in  battle ;  the  vultures  croaked,  and  our 
fathers  feasted  them  with  carnage. 

"Let  us  choose  wives  whose  milk  shall  be  blood,  and  shall 
fill  with  valour  the  heart  of  our  sons. 

"  Pharamond !  The  song  of  the  bard  is  ended ;  life  passes 
away ;  we  will  smile  when  we  must  die." 

29 


30  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Thus  sang  the  fearless  warriors  who  had  come  marching 
from  Germany  to  wrest  land  from  weaker  men ;  and  as  the 
battle  hymn  swelled  from  40,000  throats  the  horsemen 
raised  and  lowered  their  white  shields  in  cadence,  and 
at  each  return  of  the  chorus,  "Pharamond!  We  have 
fought,"  they  clashed  their  iron  javelins  upon  their  iron- 
clad breasts. 

The  Franks  were  divided  into  many  different  groups, 
but  they  were  all  alike  in  general  characteristics,  and  they 
all  belonged  to  the  great  Germanic  family. 

They  were  warriors,  pure  and  simple.  Tall,  strong, 
brave,  and  adventurous,  they  became  preeminent  even 
among  their  own  daring  kindred  peoples.  Fair-haired 
and  blue-eyed,  they  differed  from  the  Gauls  in  being  more 
resolute,  steady,  and  persevering. 

No  Frank  could  be  a  slave.  His  very  name  proudly 
asserted  his  freedom.  His  sense  of  personal  privilege  was 
high,  his  sense  of  honour  fine.  He  would  follow  the  chief 
of  his  choice,  but  no  other.  He  was  no  mercenary;  he 
loved  to  loot  the  enemy,  but  he  took  no  pay  from  his  chief. 
The  Frank  obeyed  no  king ;  the  tribe  was  its  own  master. 
In  times  of  peace,  they  elected  judges  to  regulate  the  sim- 
ple administration  of  the  tribe,  to  enforce  the  laws,  and  to 
regulate  the  use  of  the  lands.  In  times  of  war,  they 
elected  a  chief  whom  they  obeyed  in  the  field. 

All  questions  affecting  the  tribe  were  discussed  in  public 
assemblies.  The  poorest  Frank  of  them  all  had  his  say 
and  his  vote.  To  these  meetings  of  the  tribe  everybody 
carried  weapons.  In  the  heat  of  debate,  it  frequently  oc- 
curred that  the  orator  strengthened  his  argument  with  his 
battle-axe,  and  persuaded  his  adversary  with  a  club.  Par- 
liamentary mysteries  not  having  been  invented  till  a  much 


in  THE   FRANKS  31 

later  day,  the  majority,  in  the  Frankish  legislatures,  was 
often  under  the  painful  necessity  of  thrashing  a  turbulent 
minority  into  silence  and  acquiescence.  When  a  speech 
was  disapproved  a  hollow  murmur  rose  among  the  tribes- 
men, and  swelled  into  cries  of  dissent;  when  the  orator 
pleased,  spears  clashed  on  shields,  and  the  assembly  rang 
with  this  barbaric  applause. 

Private  ownership  of  land  was  unknown  to  the  Franks. 
Once  a  year  the  fields  were  parcelled  out  among  the  tribes- 
men, and  none  of  them  knew  one  year  where  he  might  be 
assigned  the  next.  The  consequence  was  that  no  valuable 
improvement  was  made  —  it  being  to  nobody's  interest  to 
build  a  good  house  or  to  enrich  a  field.  Under  such  a  sys- 
tem the  laziest  lout  in  the  tribe  might  get,  next  year,  the 
house  and  the  improved  field  where  the  thriftiest  had  la- 
boured this  year;  and  the  thrifty  tribesman  might  be  as- 
signed, next  year,  to  the  shabby  hut  and  neglected  farm 
where  the  laziest  lout  had  idled  away  his  allotted  time. 
Humanity  is  so  constructed  that  no  man  will  voluntarily 
serve  another;  we  are  all  selfish  enough  to  want  what  is 
ours,  to  reap  where  we  sow.  Take  away  the  incentive  to 
work,  and  work  ceases;  take  away  the  motive  to  build, 
improve,  develop,  and  adorn,  and  none  of  these  take  place. 
The  Franks  lived  in  open  huts  like  the  Indians  or  Afri- 
cans; and  produced  just  enough  grain  to  supply  coarse 
bread  and  inflammatory  liquor.  There  was  no  progress 
in  material  development  because  there  was  no  incentive. 
No  man  would  toil  to  improve  land  or  house  where  there 
was  no  guarantee  that  his  labour  would  bless  himself  or 
his  family. 

The  Franks  were  noted  for  the  respect  in  which  they 
held  their  women.     Only  the  princes  practised  polygamy; 


32  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

divorces  were  unknown,  and  adultery  was  punished  as  a 
rare  and  monstrous  crime. 

Their  laws  were  few  and  simple;  their  social  life  primi- 
tive. They  had  no  cities ;  no  dwellings  of  stone  or  brick ; 
no  orchards  or  meadows ;  they  wore  skins  and  lived  in  log 
huts  covered  with  grass  or  thatch.  They  had  no  money ; 
no  commerce;  no  manufactures.  The  women  wove  a 
coarse  cloth  in  which  they  dressed  —  beyond  this  their 
development  did  not  go. 

Human  life  was  held  cheap.  The  Frank  would  wager 
his  person  on  the  turn  of  a  game,  and  pay  the  forfeit 
without  a  murmur.  The  most  trivial  disputes  were  set- 
tled, man  to  man,  by  brute  force.  The  appeal  to  arms 
was  one  of  the  liberties  of  the  Frank,  and  he  settled 
knotty  points  in  tribal  law  with  his  axe. 

Murder  was  not  considered  a  capital  crime.  The  rela- 
tives of  the  deceased  were  at  liberty  to  kill  the  murderer 
if  they  could,  or  the  offence  could  be  atoned  for  by  money 
payment.  There  was  a  market  price  for  homicides,  and 
the  good  citizen  was  expected  to  pay  his  fine  cheerfully 
and  promptly.  The  amount  of  payment  varied  with  the 
dignity  and  importance  of  the  person  slain.  To  murder 
a  prince  cost  twenty  seven  hundred  dollars ;  a  priest  was 
rated  at  one  thousand  and  eighty  dollars,  at  which  figure 
settlement  was  also  made  for  killing  a  judge;  deacons 
could  be  killed  at  seven  hundred  and  twenty  dollars  each. 
To  murder  a  Frank  of  the  common  sort  cost  three  hundred 
and  sixty  dollars.  Slaves  could  be  slaughtered  at  the 
moderate  price  of  one  hundred  dollars  each. 

In  questions  of  doubt  concerning  the  guilt  or  innocence 
of  persons  accused  of  crime,  their  modes  of  trial  were  vari- 
ous. One  of  their  favourite  methods  was  to  tie  the  hands 


in  THE   FRANKS  83 

and  feet  of  the  suspected  criminal,  and  toss  him  into  a 
huge  tub  of  water.  If  he  floated,  it  was  clear  to  the  minds 
of  these  simple  people  that  the  man  was  guilty,  and  must 
"be  dealt  with  according  to  the  strict  penalty  of  the  law. 
If,  however,  he  sank  to  the  bottom  and  was  droAvned,  his 
innocence  was  as  clear  as  daylight,  and  they  immediately 
buried  him  with  every  token  of  the  highest  respect. 

Another  mode  of  trial  was  to  compel  the  accused  to 
walk  a  certain  distance  between  red-hot  pieces  of  iron, 
laid  close  together.  If  his  feet  were  burnt,  his  guilt  was 
established;  if  they  escaped,  his  innocence  was  admitted. 

A  more  popular  method,  however,  was  that  of  trial  by 
combat.  It  was  supposed  that  the  higher  powers  would 
fight  on  the  side  of  justice,  and  that,  therefore,  differences 
of  size  and  strength  would  carry  no  advantage  in  the  strug- 
gle. It  was  a  long  time  before  the  heads  of  the  Franks 
were  penetrated  by  the  fact  that  the  victory  generally  goes 
with  the  heaviest  fist,  driven  by  the  skilfulest  hitter. 

Another  method  of  trial  was  an  improvement  on  all  the 
foregoing,  and  out  of  it  gradually  grew  trial  by  jury.  A 
person  accused  of  crime  was  allowed  to  summon  a  certain 
number  of  his  neighbours  to  vouch  for  him.  If  they  would 
swear  that  from  their  knowledge  of  his  character  they  con- 
sidered him  incapable  of  the  crime,  he  was  allowed  to  go 
free.  It  frequently  occurred  that  these  neighbours  were 
not  willing  to  take  that  oath  until  they  had  heard  all  the 
evidence  in  the  case.  Thus  by  gradual  evolution  a  man's 
neighbours  became  his  jurors. 

The  religion  of  the  Franks  was  a  mixture  of  idolatry  and 
superstition.  They  believed  that  the  souls  of  the  dead 
warriors  ascended  to  a  heaven  whose  chief  glories  were 
the  banquet  table  and  the  battle-field. 


34  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

The  power  of  the  leader,  chosen  by  the  tribe,  depended 
largely  upon  the  leader  himself.  There  were  no  laws 
denning  it.  In  war  he  was  the  first,  because  he  was  sup- 
posed to  be  the  first  in  strength,  in  courage,  and  ability; 
but  when  victory  was  won  he  took  his  share  of  the  spoils 
with  the  other  soldiers. 

Thus  it  is  recorded  that  after  the  battle  of  Soissons,  at 
which  Clovis  broke  the  power  of  the  Romans  in  Gaul,  all 
the  booty  was  heaped  together  to  be  divided.  The  most 
valuable  piece  of  this  booty  was  a  beautiful  vase  which 
the  soldiers  had  taken  from  a  Christian  church.  The 
bishop  had  sent  a  special  messenger  to  Clovis,  begging  its 
return.  The  king  wished  to  grant  this  request,  and  he 
therefore  stood  up  before  all  of  his  warriors  and  asked  that 
the  vase  be  given  him  over  and  above  his  share.  Every- 
body seemed  willing  to  grant  the  request  except  one  com- 
mon soldier,  who  stepped  out  of  the  line,  struck  the  vase 
with  his  battle-axe,  and  said:  "You  shall  have  what  falls 
to  you  by  lot,  and  nothing  more."  The  soldier  was  so 
evidently  in  the  right  that  Clovis  dared  not  punish  him 
for  the  insult.  The  affront,  however,  was  remembered. 
In  the  following  year  when  the  warriors  all  assembled  at 
the  March  parade,  and  Clovis  went  along  the  ranks  in- 
specting their  weapons,  he  came  to  this  soldier.  The 
king  pretended  that  the  soldier's  sword  and  lance  and 
battle-axe  were  all  in  bad  shape,  and  not  fit  for  service. 
He  railed  at  the  poor  fellow  in  a  loud  voice  and  ended  the 
scene  by  snatching  the  battle-axe  from  his  hand  and  throw- 
ing it  upon  the  ground.  As  the  soldier  stooped  forward 
to  pick  it  up,  Clovis  swung  his  own  axe  on  high  and 
brought  it  down  with  fatal  force  on  the  offender's  head. 
"Thus,  "cried  Clovis,  "didst  thou  to  the  vase  at  Soissons." 


HI  THE   FRANKS  35 

That  particular  tribe  of  Franks  which  came  into  Gaul  A.D. 
and  gave  their  name  to  the  country  were  called  the  Salian  431 
Franks. 

Pharamond,  of  whom  the  warriors  sang,  was  one  of  their 
kings,  about  whom  we  know  so  little  that  historians  con- 
sider him  a  myth.  Clodion,  however,  is  historic;  and, 
after  some  successes,  he  lost  his  life  in  battle  against  the 
Romans  under  Aetius.  Merovius  was  their  elected  chief, 
and  under  his  command  the  Franks  fought  the  Huns  in 
the  famous  battle  of  Chalons,  on  the  Catalaunian  plains. 

In  456  A.D.  Merovius  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Chil- 
deric,  but  the  Franks  grew  disgusted  with  his  luxurious  456 
habits,  and  deposed  him.  A  Roman  general,  ^Egidius, 
was  elected  in  his  place.  At  the  end  of  eight  years  Chil- 
deric  returned,  followed  by  Queen  Basina  of  Thuringia 
(another  man's  wife),  and  succeeded  in  reestablishing 
himself  as  king  of  the  Franks. 

In  an  informal  way  he  took  Basina  to  wife,  and  begat 
Clovis  —  the  founder  of  the  kingdom  of  France. 

A  stalwart  figure  is  that  of  Clovis,  towering  in  rugged 
strength  into  companionship  with  those  few  men  who 
create  empires.  At  sixteen  years  of  age,  he  became  king 
of  the  small  tribe  of  Salian  Franks ;  at  forty-five  he  died 
a  consul  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  king  of  all  France. 
Between  those  two  ages  of  fifteen  and  forty-five  were 
crowded  as  many  deeds  of  blood,  of  craft,  and  of  crime  as 
history  lays  to  the  charge  of  any  of  the  great  conquerors  of 
earth. 

When  Clovis  came  upon  the  scene,  conditions  were 
most  favourable  for  the  man  of  action,  the  man  who  craved 
dominion. 

Gaul  was  in  a  state  of  chaos ;  Rome  was  almost  a  mere 


36  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

political  expression.  Ambitious  generals  seized  upon 
provinces,  and  flouted  the  authority  of  the  emperor. 

In  Gaul  there  were  the  Roman  citizen,  who  despised  the 
native,  and  the  native,  who  hated  the  Roman.  To  the 
Gaul,  no  master  could  be  much  more  injurious  than  the 
Roman;  and  if  the  Roman  felt  the  need  of  defending 
the  province,  he  had  not  the  means  of  doing  so.  The 
dreaded  legions  had  long  since  been  called  away  to  other 
fields,  and  Gaul  was  now  left  to  take  care  of  itself. 

It  had  been  so  often  overrun  by  marauding  barbarians 
from  the  north,  had  been  so  often  the  theatre  of  civil  war 
between  contending  aspirants  for  the  Roman  purple,  had 
been  so  exhausted  by  remorseless  tax-gatherers  and  greedy 
governors,  that  the  spirit  had  gone  out  of  the  people,  and 
there  was  no  reserve  force  from  which  national  defence 
could  be  organized. 

The  first  considerable  step  made  by  Clovis  in  his  march 

to  power  was  the  overthrow  of  a  Roman  governor  of  Sois- 

sons,  named  Syagrius,  who  had  appointed  himself  king  of 

A.D.    his  province,  and  was  holding  independent  sway  therein. 

486    Clovis  made  war  upon  him,  beat  him,  and  caused  him  to 

be  put  to  death. 

In  accomplishing  this  important  work,  Clovis  had  needed 
help,  and  had  begged  it  of  another  Prankish  chief,  named 
Ragnacaire.  The  aid  was  given,  and  the  foundation  of 
Clovis'  power  laid  in  the  victory  which  followed. 

The  manner  in  which  Clovis,  many  years  afterwards, 
rewarded  his  ally  for  his  assistance  is  interesting.  With- 
out any  cause  whatever,  he  made  war  upon  Ragnacaire  and 
defeated  him.  The  old  chief,  forlorn  and  dishonoured, 
was  preparing  for  flight,  when  he  was  treacherously  seized 
by  some  of  his  own  soldiers,  and  bound  —  he  and  his 


in  THE   FRANKS  37 

brother  Riquier.  With  hands  tied  behind  them,  Rag- 
nacaire  and  Riquier  were  led  into  the  presence  of  the 
victorious  Clovis. 

"  Wherefore  hast  thou  dishonoured  our  race  by  letting 
thyself  wear  bonds?  'Twere  better  to  have  died." 

Thus  spake  Clovis  to  his  ancient  ally,  striking  him  dead 
with  one  blow  of  the  battle-axe.  Turning  to  Riquier, 
Clovis  remarked,  "  Hadst  thou  succoured  thy  brother,  he 
had  assuredly  not  been  bound; "  and  with  another  blow  of 
the  axe  laid  him  dead  beside  Ragnacaire. 

This  happened  many  years  after  Clovis  had  become  a 
Christian. 


The  first  Christian  church  in  France  was  established, 
150  years  after  Christ,  by  Pothinus,  a  disciple  of  Polycarp. 
From  Lyons,  where  this  church  was  built,  the  Gospel 
spread  gradually  over  all  the  land. 

In  those  days  the  Church  was  still  simple  in  its  cere- 
monial, austere  in  its  life,  intense  in  its  zeal,  and  poor  in 
its  estate.  No  humiliating  concessions  had  yet  been  made 
to  kings.  Pagan  rites  had  not  profaned  the  form,  nor 
pagan  superstitions  the  spirit  of  Christian  worship.  Spec- 
tacular effect  was  studied  at  a  later  day,  when  it  was  all 
important  to  impress  the  simplerminded  barbarians. 

The  converts  to  Christ  were  separated  from  the  pagan 
world  by  the  highest  of  all  distinctions,  purity  of  life. 
Their  faith  was  to  them  a  passionate  reality  —  something 
to  die  for;  and,  above  all,  to  live  by. 

In  its  government,  the  Church  was  democratic.  The 
humblest  member  of  the  congregation  had  his  voice  and 
vote  in  the  election  of  the  bishop.  The  power  of  appoint- 


38  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

ment  had  not  yet  superseded  the  right  of  the  Christians  to 
elect  their  spiritual  guides  and  governors. 

To  the  indifference  of  the  pagan,  they  opposed  an  ag- 
gressive conviction ;  to  his  gross  materialism  they  opposed 
spirituality ;  to  pagan  beliefs  in  extinction  at  death  they 
opposed  a  fiery  and  endlessly  horrible  hell;  to  the  Ger- 
man's cloudy  conception  of  the  hall  of  Valhalla,  with  its 
eternity  of  feasting  and  fighting,  they  opposed  a  mystic 
city  of  infinite  splendour  beyond  the  skies,  with  streets  of 
gold,  with  many  mansions  of  the  Father,  —  an  Eden  which 
was  to  have  no  cloud,  no  serpent,  and  no  night.  The  bar- 
barian's heaven  was  sensual,  like  himself;  it  reeked  with 
blood  and  rang  with  the  shouts  of  warriors  who  were 
happy  in  recollections  of  gratified  revenge  and  in  drinking 
themselves  drunk  out  of  cups  made  from  the  skulls  of  foes 
slain  in  battle. 

The  Christian's  heaven  was,  like  himself,  spiritual;  it 
knew  no  earthly  passion,  no  envy,  hatred,  nor  malice ;  it 
was  full  of  peace,  rest,  love,  and  melody,  —  melody  breath- 
ing from  golden  harps,  in  which  all  the  deathless  yearning 
of  noble  souls  was  to  find  expression;  and  the  nameless 
sorrow,  the  unutterable  sadness,  which  lingers  in  all 
earthly  music  whatsoever  was  to  live  no  more. 

Thus  appealing  to  the  inborn  yearning  of  men  for  eter- 
nal happiness,  the  religion  of  Christ  fell  upon  the  indiffer- 
ent and  hopeless  pagan  world  like  the  peal  of  a  trumpet. 

Yet,  again,  it  proclaimed  the  brotherhood  of  man.  It  is 
almost  impossible  for  us  to  realize  the  inspiration  which 
lay  in  this  doctrine.  A  few  wealthy  nobles  lorded  it  over 
the  earth,  holding  themselves  above  the  masses,  as  a 
Brahman  towers  over  a  Sudra.  Oppressing  the  bulk  of 
the  free  Romans,  socially,  politically,  and  financially,  they 


in  THE   FRANKS  39 

increased  their  own  importance  by  adding  constantly  to 
the  long  roll  of  their  slaves. 

Therefore,  when  the  Christians  daringly  preached  that 
all  men  were  equal  in  the  eyes  of  God,  and  the  soul  of  the 
slave  as  precious  to  Him  who  created  it  as  that  of  the 
master  who  owned  him,  the  vast  majority  of  the  Roman 
population  heard  what  was  to  them  the  trumpet  of  social 
and  spiritual  resurrection,  although  the  Church  made  no 
assault  upon  the  institution  of  slavery,  nor  upon  any  other 
political  grievance. 

It  is  no  wonder,  then,  that  we  find  the  Gospel  of  Christ 
spreading  like  a  running  fire  among  the  slaves  and  the 
poor. 

Rome  tolerated  all  religions,  used  them  all,  despised 
them  all.  Every  god  had  his  temple  and  his  devotees. 
Unless  religion  came  into  collision  with  the  State,  it  was 
not  molested.  Therefore,  the  Christian  religion  went  its 
way,  unchallenged  by  Rome,  until  it  defied  public  au- 
thority and  military  discipline. 

The  first  persecution  of  the  Christians  in  Gaul  arose 
out  of  this  circumstance :  A  private  soldier  in  the  Roman 
army,  by  gallantry  in  action,  had  won  the  notice  of  his  su- 
perior officers,  and  a  crown,  or  coronet  of  honour,  had  been 
awarded  him.  He  refused  to  wear  it  upon  the  ground  that 
it  was  idolatrous,  and  that  he,  being  a  Christian,  could 
not  indulge  in  idolatry.  This  act  of  insubordination 
created  an  immense  stir,  and  the  persecutions  of  the  Chris- 
tians at  once  followed.  It  does  not  enter  into  the  purpose 
of  this  work  to  detail  the  horrors  which  ensued.  Even  to 
this  day  it  chills  the  blood  to  read  of  the  atrocities  which 
were  practised  upon  the  Christians  by  the  mad  rage  of 
pagan  mobs.  Men  were  tortured  in  every  conceivable 


40  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

way,  and  tender  women  and  children  were  subjected  to 
every  outrage  that  brutal  hatred  could  suggest.  The 
courage  of  conviction  which  sustained  these  people  was 
sublime  in  its  constancy. 

Though  the  charred  bones  of  the  martyr  might  be  seen 
in  every  village,  the  faith  for  which  he  had  died  was 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  fire,  and  it  sank  deeper  into  the 
hearts  and  minds  of  men. 

Periods  of  toleration,  following  these  incidental  perse- 
cutions, gave  the  missionary  time  to  found  schools  and 
churches,  and  to  gather  influence  with  the  ruling  classes. 

In  course  of  time,  as  the  Roman  government  began  to 
go  to  pieces,  the  local  administration  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Christian  clergy.  The  bishops  virtually  governed 
the  towns,  and  formed  among  themselves  a  powerful  and 
organized  hierarchy.  These  bishops  were  all  called  popes 
(fathers)  at  first,  and  in  power  each  was,  theoretically, 
the  equal  of  the  others. 

But,  among  the  Christians  themselves,  mighty  differ- 
ences arose.  The  Arian  Christians,  refusing  to  admit  the 
existence  of  three  Gods,  believed  in  God,  the  Father,  as 
the  one  eternal,  indivisible  God.  They  held  that  Christ 
was  first  of  all  created  beings,  but  not  a  coequal  God  with 
his  Father. 

The  Catholic  Christians,  on  the  contrary,  asserted  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity:  that  there  were  three  persons 
in  the  Godhead,  but  only  one  God. 

Over  this  question,  Christians  wrangled  for  several 
hundred  years.  Numerous  attempts  were  made  to  adjust 
the  dispute  by  conference  and  compromise,  but  they  all 
came  to  naught.  The  Arians  planted  themselves  upon  the 
rule  in  arithmetic,  that  three  times  one  are  three,  and 


in  THE   FRANKS  41 

they  refused  to  see  it  any  other  way.  The  Catholics, 
however,  wisely  avoiding  the  complications  which  would 
ensue  if  Christians  denied  that  Christ  was  a  God,  or  ad- 
mitted that  there  was  more  than  one  God,  advanced  the 
doctrine  which  preserved  Christ's  divinity,  and  yet  es- 
caped the  paganistic  pitfall  of  a  plurality  of  Gods.  They 
reconciled  the  apparently  conflicting  propositions  by  say- 
ing that  the  three  persons,  each  of  them  a  God,  formed 
but  one  Triune  God. 

The  issue  between  these  two  sects  of  Christians  was 
irreconcilable,  and  the  feud  shook  the  entire  Roman  world. 
It  was  a  matter  of  self-preservation  for  the  Catholics  to 
extinguish  A  nanism.  The  life  of  the  orthodox  church 
was  at  stake ;  and  having  failed  to  put  down  Arianism  by 
reason,  they  determined  to  do  it  by  arms.  Clovis  was 
the  instrument  which  they  chose  for  the  work. 

Among  the  conquering  Franks,  in  Gaul,  there  was  only 
one  Catholic  princess.  This  was  Clotilda,  the  daughter 
of  the  chief,  or  king,  of  Burgundy.  Between  this  prin- 
cess and  Clovis  the  Catholic  bishops  arranged  a  marriage, 
exacting  an  agreement  that  the  children  born  of  it  should 
be  baptized  into  the  Christian  faith.  By  this  marriage, 
Clovis  rallied  to  himself  the  vast  strength  of  the  Catholic 
bishops. 

At  their  instance,  he  turned  his  arms  upon  the  Arian 
chiefs,  overthrew  them  in  battle,  led  off  their  people  into 
captivity,  and  took  possession  of  their  dominions,  giving 
a  liberal  share  to  the  orthodox  church.  This  was  the 
beginning  of  religious  wars  among  the  Christians. 

Clovis  himself  remained  a  pagan  some  years  after  his 
marriage ;  but,  in  one  of  his  battles,  he  fell  into  a  panic, 
and,  despairing  of  help  from  his  own  gods,  he  called  aloud 


42  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

for  aid  on  the  God  of  his  wife.  The  tide  of  battle  turned, 
A.D.  victory  came  to  him,  and  he  was  baptized  a  Christian, 
together  with  his  warriors.  Clovis  became,  therefore,  the 
only  orthodox,  or  Catholic,  king  in  Gaul. 

By  a  dramatic  career  of  force  and  fraud,  daring  and 
craft,  perfidy  and  crime,  Clovis  crushed  all  rivals  in 
France,  and  welded  its  widely  different  elements  into  a 
great  kingdom.  His  fame  spread  to  the  East,  and  the 
Emperor  Anastasius  bestowed  upon  him  the  purple  and 
diadem  of  a  Roman  patrician  and  consul  —  titles  which 
were  honorary  only,  but  which  carried  with  them  a 
certain  moral  and  political  weight. 

Upon  the  clergy  he  showered  gifts,  and  between  Church 
and  State  a  close  union  was  formed.  Eldest  son  of  the 
Church  is  a  title  which  was  first  bestowed  upon  Clovis. 
He  had  earned  it,  not  by  the  purity  of  his  life,  but  by  the 
amplitude  of  his  donations. 

The  union  formed  between  a  ruthless  conqueror,  like 
Clovis,  and  the  Church  of  Christ,  necessarily  lowered  the 
standard  of  Christian  morals.  Out  of  it  grew  monstrous 
evils,  hurtful  to  the  Church  as  well  as  to  the  State. 

In  the  eagerness  of  the  clergy  to  secure  offices  and 
wealth,  they  catered  too  much  to  paganism  and  barbarian 
tastes.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  Church  began  to  bap- 
tize whole  tribes  and  armies  at  one  time ;  to  condone  royal 
crimes ;  and  to  introduce  processions,  festivals,  gorgeous 
raiment,  and  artistic  decorations,  in  order  to  fascinate  or 
conciliate  the  pagan  mind. 

When  Clovis  was  received  into  the  Church,  the  pomp 
and  splendour  of  the  ceremonial  was  so  great  that  he  asked 
in  good  faith  of  the  bishop  officiating,  "  Father,  is  not  this 
itself  that  heaven  which  you  have  promised  me  ?  " 


m  THE  FRANKS  43 

This  really  great  man  had  all  the  superstition  of  a  sav- 
age. He  believed  in  miracles,  and  made  bargains  with 
saints  before  fighting  battles.  He  implicitly  believed  the 
bishop  of  Tournay  when  that  holy  man,  after  earnestly 
wrestling  a  decent  season  in  prayer,  handed  the  crime- 
stained  king  a  writing  in  which  the  divine  hand  had 
written  a  full  pardon  —  according  to  the  bishop. 

Huge  was  the  gift  with  which  the  untutored  Clovis, 
"certain  of  his  sins  and  doubtful  of  his  salvation,"  re- 
warded the  good  bishop  for  this  little  piece  of  parchment. 

Another  incident  as  happily  illustrates  the  kind  of  man 
the  clergy  were  manipulating :  — 

St.  Martin  of  Tours  was  a  favourite  with  Clovis.  Before 
engaging  in  battle  with  the  Goths  he  vowed  to  give  the 
'saint,  in  the  event  of  victory,  as  a  sacrifice,  the  horse 
which  he  himself  rode,  and  which  he  loved  above  all  other 
horses. 

The  battle  was  fought  and  won.  By  the  king's  own 
agreement  the  horse  was  forfeited  to  St.  Martin.  But  it 
grieved  the  king  sorely  to  give  him  up.  In  his  distress  a 
bright  idea  came  to  his  relief.  Would  not  St.  Martin  sell 
the  horse?  Straightway  he  sends  to  the  bishop  who  is 
supposed  to  be  in  touch  with  the  saint,  and  offers  100  gold 
pieces  to  redeem  the  horse.  St.  Martin,  from  the  land  of 
spirits,  answers,  through  the  bishop,  that  he  is  willing  to 
sell,  but  not  at  that  price.  The  saint  makes  a  counter 
proposition,  and  his  figure  is  so  high  that  the  king's 
temper  fails  him. 

"An  excellent  man  in  time  of  need  is  this  St.  Martin," 
says  Clovis,  peevishly,  "but  difficult  to  do  business  with." 
The  saint  being  inexorable,  the  king  had  to  pay  the  price 
demanded. 


44  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

The  churchmen  absorbed  and  monopolized  nearly  all  the 
learning  of  that  age.  Besides,  their  profession  made  them 
experts  in  dealing  with  the  superstitions  of  the  time.  The 
eternal  questions  of  death  and  the  hereafter  exercised  their 
spell  over  the  thoughts  of  men  in  those  rude  days  to  a 
greater  extent  even  than  they  do  now.  Hence,  when  the 
churchmen  came  in  contact  with  the  warrior,  it  was  seldom 
indeed  that  the  power  of  learning,  the  power  of  intellect, 
and  the  power  to  use  spiritual  weapons  did  not  dominate 
the  soldier  who  wielded  the  spear. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  with  all  the  faults  of  many  of 
her  princes,  the  Church  did  a  magnificent  work  in  those 
dark  and  bloody  days.  It  was  to  the  influence  which  she 
had  established  over  the  minds  of  barbarians  that  the  weak 
owed  protection.  It  was  to  her  that  the  homeless  outcast 
appealed  for  shelter  and  food.  It  was  to  her  that  the 
widow  or  the  orphan  lifted  the  hand  of  supplication.  It 
was  to  her  sanctuary  that  the  hunted  fugitive  fled  for 
refuge.  Dimly  as  the  lamp  of  learning  burned,  its  light 
but  for  her  would  have  been  utterly  extinguished.  She 
taught  the  doctrine  of  fraternity  in  an  age  when  the 
haughty  noble  of  Rome  or  of  Gaul,  looking  down  in  cruel 
contempt  upon  the  serf  whose  labour  supported  him,  was 
slow  to  admit  that  one  God  made  them  both.  She  taught 
the  doctrine  of  duty  and  of  self-sacrifice  at  a  period  when 
men  were  groping  in  the  dark,  without  a  moral  standard. 
And  she  taught  peace  and  mercy  at  a  time  when  the  shed- 
ding of  blood  was  scarcely  considered  a  crime. 

The  great  fact  in  French  history  is  the  terrible  revolu- 
tion of  1789.  The  student  who  desires  to  understand  its 
causes,  and  its  violence,  will  never  do  so  unless  he  con- 
siders the  changes  wrought  by  Clovis.  It  must  be  borne 


in  THE   FRANKS  46 

in  mind  that  the  Gauls  were  the  great  body  of  the  people 
of  France ;  that  the  Franks  under  Clovis  had  conquered 
them  and  taken  their  lands ;  that  these  Franks  thus  became 
a  landed  nobility  intensely  hated  by  the  great  body  of  the 
people  because  they  were  foreigners,  and  because  they 
were  conquerors.  In  this  way  commenced  that  wide  and 
cruel  difference  between  the  upper  and  lower  classes  in 
France  which  made  the  tyranny  of  the  upper  classes  more 
intolerable,  and  the  hatred  of  the  lower  classes  more  in- 
tense than  it  has  ever  been  in  any  other  modern  European 
country. 

These  German  conquerors  were  a  tall,  robust,  blue-eyed, 
fair-haired  race  of  people,  and  even  at  the  breaking  out  of 
the  revolution  the  distinguishing  features  of  blue  eyes  and 
blond  hair  were  very  common  among  the  nobles  whom  the 
people  so  bitterly  hated.  Thus,  after  the  lapse  of  twelve 
hundred  years  the  conquerors  had  largely  maintained  the 
physical  type  of  their  distant  ancestry,  while  side  by  side 
with  it  ran  the  dark  current  of  intense  hatred,  handed 
down  among  the  despised  peasants  from  sire  to  son,  and 
destined  at  last  to  break  out  into  a  convulsion  of  wrath 
which  shook  the  world. 

On  the  27th  of  November,  511,  Clovis  died  at  Paris, 
and  was  buried  in  the  Church  of  St.  Genevie"ve,  built  by 
his  wife  Clotilda. 

The  preeminence,  social  and  political,  of  the  Catholic 
Church  owes  its  origin  to  its  alliance  with  Clovis.  To  his 
bounty  it  owes  the  beginnings  of  its  vast  wealth.  To  his 
partiality  was  due  many  of  its  most  cherished  privileges 
and  prerogatives. 

The  accepted  belief  that  Constantino  was  the  Father  of 
the  Church  is  not  correct.  He  merely  made  Christianity 


46  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

legal ;  he  did  not  make  it  the  state  religion,  as  Clovis  did. 
Constantine  himself  held  the  highest  office  known  to  the 
pagan  priesthood,  that  of  Pontifex  Maximus.  He  neither 
prohibited  nor  limited  paganism.  He  allowed  temples  to 
be  erected  to  himself,  and  permitted  his  subjects  to  wor- 
ship him  as  a  god. 

The  truth  seems  to  be  that  Constantine,  consummate 
politician  that  he  was,  recognized  the  strength  of  the 
Christian  element  in  the  Roman  world,  and  used  it  skil- 
fully. He  was  no  more  of  a  Christian  than  Julius  Caesar 
or  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 

With  Clovis  it  was  different.  He  himself  remained  a 
savage  to  the  last,  and  neither  he  nor  his  wife  Clotilda 
ever  lost  an  opportunity  to  take  pitiless  revenge  upon 
defeated  enemies,  but  they  made  the  Christian  faith  the 
state  religion,  and  formed  that  close  alliance  between 
Church  and  State  which  altered  the  course  of  history. 

Previous  to  the  time  of  Clovis,  the  Christians  had  relied 
upon  moral  suasion,  alone,  for  the  propagation  of  the 
faith.  They  had  incited  no  wars.  It  was  even  held  by  a 
large  body  of  the  Church  that  Christians  could  not  con- 
scientiously take  part  in  warfare.  The  first  martyr  who 
fell  a  victim  to  Rome  was  a  Christian  soldier  who  said  that 
his  religion  did  not  allow  him  to  fight  or  kill.  This 
pioneer  Quaker  was  put  to  death,  under  military  law,  and 
was  made  into  a  saint  by  the  early  Church. 

But  with  the  advent  of  Clovis  all  was  changed.  The 
bishops  called  on  the  warriors  to  aid  the  preacher,  the  sword 
to  aid  the  cross.  In  a  short  time  the  Church  of  Christ 
breathed  as  fierce  a  spirit  as  ever  lit  the  fires  of  Moham- 
medan fanaticism.  Bishops  went  with  the  army,  fought 
witli  the  army,  worked  miracles  to  encourage  the  army, 


in  THE   FRANKS  47 

and,  the  victory  won,  thronged  the  tent  of  the  conqueror 
claiming  their  share  of  the  spoil.  The  Church  thus  low- 
ered itself  to  the  plane  of  mere  brutal  conquest,  but  it 
gained  enormously  in  wealth  and  power. 

In  this  way,  the  comparatively  few  Frankish  warriors 
overran  and  subdued  the  entire  kingdom  of  Gaul,  just  as 
the  comparatively  few  Normans  subdued  England,  and 
the  comparatively  few  English,  long  afterwards,  subdued 
India.  It  was  conquest  supported  by  religious  influence, 
political  management,  and  physical  force. 

The  Arians  were  put  down  because  they  believed  in  one 
God;  the  bishops  next  turned  upon  the  Bretons,  who 
denied  the  necessity  of  infant  baptism. 

This  heresy  was  dangerous.  It  interfered  with  that 
complete  spiritual  ownership,  from  cradle  to  grave,  which 
the  priests  were  bent  upon  establishing.  It  was  their  set 
purpose  to  take  everything  to  the  Church,  leaving  nothing 
to  nature  or  to  man. 

Once  more  the  greed  of  Clovis  and  his  savages  was  in- 
flamed by  prospects  of  booty,  and  war,  cruel  and  persist- 
ent, was  made  upon  these  wicked  Bretons,  whose  crime 
consisted  in  believing  that  innocent  babes  would  go  to 
heaven,  even  if  they  should  die  unsprinkled  by  a  priest. 

Towns  were  given  to  the  flames ;  fields  ravaged  and  laid 
waste;  mothers,  fathers,  sons,  daughters,  sent  headlong 
to  a  red  burial  in  the  horrors  of  war ;  and  from  this  time 
dates  the  degeneracy  of  the  Christian  Church. 

Her  bishops  became  warriors,  politicians,  schemers, 
partners  in  crime,  and  the  priestly  robe  was  dragged 
through  the  slime  of  selfish  ambition  and  corrupt  intrigue. 
Blessings  were  pronounced  upon  deeds  which  should  have 
been  cursed.  Court  was  paid  to  criminals  who  should 


48  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP,  in 

have  been  exposed.  Bishops  fawn  upon  terrible  Frede- 
gonda,  popes  cringe  to  Brunehilda,  and  from  both  the 
Church  receives  largess. 

Thus,  always  advancing,  the  bishops  reached  supreme 
power  by  material  means,  and  when  the  primacy  of  the 
bishop  of  Rome  was  at  length  admitted,  the  vast  power  of 
the  Church  was  wielded  with  the  irresistible  strength  of 
centralization.  When  that  day  came,  Rome  was  once 
more  imperial.  She  ruled  the  world.  The  popes  were 
Csesars.  They  made  and  unmade  kings.  Crowns  were 
but  gifts  of  theirs,  and  nations  their  vassals. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  MEROVINGIAN  KINGS 
(561-747) 

CLOTAIRE,  CHARIBERT,  CHILPBRIO,  FREDEQONDA,  AND  BRUNEHILDA 


TXTITH  the  death  of  Clovis,  the  Dark  Ages  begin. 
Brute  force  reigns,  and  society  sinks  back  into  tur- 
bulent lawlessness.  Here  and  there  a  sanctuary  of  the 
Church,  held,  fortress-like,  by  some  intrepid  bishop,  is  a 
rock  against  which  the  waves  of  violence  break  in  vain  : 
superstition  draws  a  charmed  circle  about  it,  and  maraud- 
ers fear  to  tempt  its  mysterious  terrors.  But  these  sanctu- 
aries are  the  exceptions  ;  they  serve,  indeed,  as  lighthouses, 
to  show  the  darkness  and  danger  of  the  times.  Even  in 
these  holy  places,  the  very  fugitives  who  flee  to  them  for 
shelter  and  safety  will  brawl  and  fight,  will  horrify  the 
patient  priests  with  lewd  revelry  and  impious  license. 

Beyond  the  pale  of  these  sacred  places  all  is  darkness. 
Public  war  and  private  feud,  open  murder  and  stealthy 
assassination,  robbery  on  the  highway  and  rapine  in  the 
villages,  churches  despoiled  and  cities  sacked,  lust  with- 
out shame  and  treachery  without  limit,  physical  force  tri- 
umphant and  brutal  passions  madly  supreme  —  these  are 
the  characteristic  features  of  this  terrible  period  of  the 
successors  of  Clovis. 

Possessing  little  of  the  ability  of  their  great  ancestor, 
each  of  his  descendents  equalled  him  in  perfidy,  lust, 

K  49 


50  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

rapacity,  and  cruelty.  They  swore  solemn  oaths  and 
broke  them ;  paid  debts  of  gratitude  by  the  slaughter  of 
the  creditor ;  took  wives  by  the  half-dozen  and  concubines 
by  the  score ;  robbed  the  dead  and  plundered  the  living ; 
strangled  wives,  murdered  children,  poisoned  relatives, 
and  wreaked  upon  foes  every  torture  which  the  ferocity  of 
savage  nature  could  suggest. 

Sometimes  they  plundered  the  kingdom  of  a  neighbour ; 
sometimes  they  plundered  their  own.  Sometimes  they 
robbed  the  nobles ;  sometimes  the  Church.  Never  for  a 
moment  did  they  forget  to  rob  the  common  people. 

The  manners  and  the  morals  of  the  times  can  best  be 
illustrated  by  some  of  the  incidents  cited  by  historians. 

Clovis  left  four  sons,  who  divided  his  kingdom  between 
them.  One  of  them,  Clodomir,  in  making  war  upon  the 
Burgundians  fell  into  an  ambush  and  was  killed.  He  left 
a  young  widow  and  three  sons  by  a  previous  marriage. 
These  boys  had  a  right  to  succeed  their  father,  and  divide 
his  part  of  the  kingdom  between  themselves. 

Having  lost  both  father  and  mother,  these  children  were 
living  at  Paris  with  their  grandmother,  Clotilda,  the 
widow  of  the  great  Clovis. 

Two  of  her  sons  decided  to  seize  upon  the  inheritance 
of  their  nephews,  and  divide  it  between  themselves. 
They  sent  a  message  to  their  aged  mother  to  this  effect. 
"  Send  the  children  to  us,  that  we  may  place  them  upon 
the  throne."  Greatly  was  the  lady  rejoiced,  never  dream- 
ing that  her  sons  could  murder  her  grandsons.  The 
children  were  sent.  Then  the  cruel  sons  despatched  a 
messenger  to  their  mother  bearing  a  pair  of  shears  and  a 
naked  sword. 

She  was  to  choose  whether  the  shears,  or  the  sword, 


iv  THE   MEROVINGIAN   KINGS  61 

should  be  used  on  the  children.  The  family  of  Clovis  was 
known  as  the  Merovingians,  and  they  wore  long  hair  as  a 
badge  of  royalty.  To  shear  their  hair  meant  that  they 
could  not  be  kings  —  meant  dethronement. 

The  grandmother,  frenzied  by  surprise  and  grief,  cried 
out,  "  If  they  be  not  set  upon  the  throne,  I  would  rather 
they  were  dead  than  shorn."  Without  waiting  for  further 
words,  the  messenger  hurried  back  to  those  who  sent  him. 

One  of  the  uncles,  Clotaire,  caught  hold  of  one  of  the 
little  boys  and  stabbed  him  to  death  with  a  hunting  knife. 
The  surviving  child  caught  his  other  uncle,  Childebert, 
by  the  hands  and  begged  so  piteously  for  his  life  that  the 
harsh  man  was  moved  to  tears  and  sought  to  shield  him 
from  the  knife.  "Thrust  him  away,"  cried  Clotaire, 
"or  thou  diest  in  his  stead  —  thou  who  didst  instigate 
this  work! " 

Childebert  pushed  the  poor  boy  away,  and  Clotaire 
slew  him. 

One  of  these  children  was  ten  years  old,  the  other  seven. 

The  helpless  grandmother  had  the  victims  buried  in  the 
Church  of  St.  Genevieve  at  Paris  with  great  parade,  much 
chanting,  and  mourning,  but  there  was  no  tribunal  which 
could  punish  the  murderers.  They  were  kings,  and  above 
the  ordinary  law  which  gave  to  the  family  of  the  victim 
one  of  two  methods  of  inflicting  punishment,  —  a  fine,  or 
private  war,  and  the  royal  assassins  calmly  divided  the 
inheritance  between  themselves. 

These  boys  had  another  brother  who  was  saved  by  some 
brave  friend,  but  he  was  so  frightened  at  what  had  hap- 
pened to  his  brothers  that  he  cut  off  his  hair  with  his  own 
hands,  took  refuge  in  a  convent,  and  became  a  priest.  It 
is  a  clear  proof  of  the  security  of  the  refuge  offered  by  the 


62  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Church  in  those  wild  times  that  his  savage  uncles  never 
molested  him. 

Having  killed  two  of  his  brother  Clodomir's  sons,  Clo- 
taire  married  his  brother  Clodomir's  young  widow. 

One  of  Clotaire 's  wives  was  named  Ingonda.  He 
loved  her  better  than  any  of  his  collection.  One  day  she 
said  to  him,  "  I  pray  you  find  a  man  both  capable  and  rich 
to  many  my  sister  Aregonda."  At  these  words  Clotaire 
said  nothing,  but  the  thought  occurred  to  him  that  he 
might  as  well  take  a  look  at  the  girl  himself.  So  out  he 
went  into  the  country  where  she  dwelt,  and  paid  her  a 
visit.  Pleased  with  her  appearance,  he  immediately  mar- 
ried her.  After  spending  some  days  with  her,  he  returned 
to  Ingonda,  and  said,  "  I  laboured  to  procure  the  favour 
thou  didst  sweetly  ask,  and  on  looking  round  for  a  man 
both  capable  and  rich  for  thy  sister,  I  could  find  none 
better  than  myself;  know,  therefore,  that  I  have  taken  her 
to  wife." 

Ingonda  meekly  replied,  "  Let  my  lord  do  as  seemeth 
good  to  him ;  only,  let  me  continue  to  find  favour  in  his 
sight." 

One  of  his  brothers,  named  Theodoric,  took  it  into  his 
head  to  kill  Clotaire.  Unfortunately,  the  plot  miscar- 
ried. Theodoric  invited  Clotaire  to  visit  him,  and  posted 
some  assassins  behind  a  curtain  in  the  room.  The  curtain 
was  just  a  little  too  short  and  their  feet  were  seen.  Some- 
body sent  word  to  Clotaire  in  time,  and  he  brought  a 
band  of  armed  men  with  him  when  he  entered  the  room. 
This  spoilt  the  trap  entirely;  and  Theodoric,  instead  of 
killing  his  brother,  had  a  pleasant  conversation  with  him, 
and  made  him  a  present  of  a  silver  dish  of  great  value. 
As  soon  as  Clotaire  departed,  Theodoric  was  sorry  about 


iv  THE  MEROVINGIAN   KINGS  63 

the  silver  vessel,  and  sent  his  son  to  ask  his  brother  to 
return  it.  Strange  to  say,  he  did  so. 

As  already  stated,  Childebert  and  Clotaire  had  con- 
spired against  their  little  nephews,  Lad  murdered  them, 
and  had  taken  their  portion  of  the  kingdom. 

Now,  in  later  years,  Childebert  conspired  with  Clo- 
taire's  son  to  put  Clotaire  out  of  the  way.  The  plan 
failed.  Childebert  died,  and  Clotaire  seized  his  domin- 
ions. Clotaire's  son  fled  away,  and  sought  shelter  in 
Brittany.  His  father  followed  him,  defeated  the  Bretons 
who  sought  to  defend  him,  shut  him  up  with  his  wife  and 
children  in  a  wooden  hut,  set  fire  to  it,  and  burnt  the 
whole  family. 

Returning  to  his  favourite  farm  and  residence,  Braine, 
with  a  conscience  calm  and  serene,  this  magnificent  savage 
decided  to  relax  himself  in  the  pleasures  of  the  chase. 
The  grand  autumnal  hunts  were  almost  national  institu- 
tions with  the  Franks.  The  forests  were  vast  in  extent, 
wild  and  dangerous,  full  of  "big  game,"  chief  of  which 
was  the  antlered  stag  and  the  ferocious  wild  boar.  The 
chase  in  those  days  meant  a  wild  ride  for  hundreds  of 
miles,  kept  up  day  after  day.  To  take  the  quarry  required 
skill  and  daring,  nerve  and  perseverance.  The  stag  had 
a  chance  as  well  as  the  hunter.  The  wild  boar  sometimes 
brought  down  the  man,  instead  of  the  man  the  boar. 

Hunting  was  really  royal  sport;  there  was  life,  there 
was  motion,  excitement,  suspense,  danger, — the  mellow 
bay  of  dogs,  the  blare  of  horns,  the  clatter  of  horses  at 
speed,  the  cry  of  eager  hunters,  all  waking  the  echoes  of 
dim,  primitive  forests. 

So  Clotaire,  having  hunted  his  son  to  death  and  given 
a  fiery  tomb  to  his  wife  and  children  as  well,  sent  out 


64  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

A.D.  word  that  he  would  hunt  in  the  vast  forest  of  Guise.  He 
661  hunted  accordingly,  and  overdid  it,  bringing  on  a  fever, 
of  which  he  died. 

His  four  sons,  Charibert,  Gonthram,  Chilperic,  and 
Sigibert,  followed  the  funeral  procession,  singing  psalms 
and  bearing  waxen  tapers.  As  soon  as  the  burial  was 
over,  Chilperic  set  out  in  haste  to  Braine,  where  his  fath- 
er's treasures  were,  and  stole  them  straightway.  He  used 
part  of  the  money  to  bribe  the  chiefs,  and,  gathering  up 
an  army,  he  marched  upon  Paris,  intent  upon  seizing  all 
of  his  father's  dominions.  The  other  brothers  then  com- 
bined, assembled  forces  of  their  own,  and  also  advanced 
towards  Paris.  Chilperic,  seeing  himself  outnumbered, 
decided  to  compromise.  The  kingdom  was  divided,  and 
the  brothers  swore  a  mighty  oath,  upon  the  relics  of  the 
saints,  to  abide  by  the  division. 

Charibert  had  several  wives,  one  of  whom  was  the 
daughter  of  a  serf.  He  liked  her  so  well  that  he  married 
her  sister  also.  This  scandalous  conduct  caused  Ger- 
main, bishop  of  Paris,  to  excommunicate  the  king.  Chari- 
bert paid  no  attention  whatever  to  the  sentence,  and  kept 
both  his  wives.  The  time  was  not  yet  come  when  the 
curse  of  Rome  could  shatter  a  throne  and  spread  a  pall 
over  a  kingdom. 

After  Charibert's  death,  which  occurred  suddenly  near 
Bordeaux,  one  of  his  queens,  Theodehilda,  the  daughter 
of  a  shepherd,  sent  word  to  Gonthram,  her  dead  husband's 
brother,  that  she  would  bring  him  all  the  treasure  of  the 
late  king,  her  husband,  provided  that  he,  Gonthram, 
would  agree  to  marry  her. 

"Certainly,"  said  Gonthram.  "Come  and  bring  the 
treasure." 


!v  THE   MEROVINGIAN   KINGS  55 

The  ingenious  widow  loaded  a  number  of  ox-carts  with 
valuables,  such  as  money,  vases,  gold  and  silver  vessels, 
etc.,  got  into  one  of  these  carts  herself,  and  set  out  cheer- 
fully in  search  of  another  husband. 

Gonthram,  who  was  already  abundantly  supplied  with 
wives  and  concubines,  received  Theodehilda  with  cool- 
ness, but  contemplated  the  wagons  with  mingled  joy  and 
affection.  He  carefully  laid  the  treasures  away  in  his 
own  keeping,  and  then  he  detailed  a  squad  of  soldiers  to 
conduct  the  widow  to  the  nunnery  of  Aries. 

The  territories  of  Charibert  were  then  parcelled  between 
the  three  surviving  brothers.  Paris  was  divided  equally 
among  the  three  and  was  to  be  a  neutral  town.  Neither 
was  to  enter  it,  without  the  consent  of  the  others. 

Again  they  swore  a  mighty  oath  upon  the  relics  of  saints 
to  abide  by  the  division. 

Sigibert  was  the  youngest  of  the  sons  of  Clotaire,  and 
the  best.  Disgusted  with  the  brutality  of  his  brothers' 
lives,  he  determined  to  content  himself  with  one  wife,  but 
she  must  be  of  royal  degree. 

The  king  of  the  Goths,  of  Spain,  had  two  daughters, 
the  younger  of  whom,  Brunehilda,  was  known  far  and 
wide  for  her  beauty.  Sigibert  sent  deputies,  bearing 
rich  presents,  into  Spain  and  asked  of  the  Gothic  king  the 
hand  of  his  fair  daughter  in  marriage.  Consent  was 
given,  and  Brunehilda  journeyed  into  France  to  wed  her 
royal  lover  at  Metz.  566 

The  marriage  was  celebrated  with  elaborate  pomp.  All 
the  lords  of  the  kingdom  of  Sigibert  were  bidden  to  the 
ceremony.  They  came  flocking  in  with  their  escorts  until 
the  town  was  alive  with  governors  of  provinces,  counts  of 
cities,  chiefs  of  tribes  beyond  the  Rhine,  and  dukes  of 
friendly  bands  of  neighbouring -Germans. 


A.D. 


66  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

In  this  assemblage  of  guests  were  to  be  seen  representa- 
tives of  every  race  in  Gaul.  There  were  Gallic  nobles, 
polished  and  courtly ;  Prankish  nobles,  rough  and  haughty ; 
Germanic  chiefs  from  over  the  Rhine,  clad  in  furs,  and 
savage  in  look  and  manner. 

The  nuptial  banquet  was  one  of  barbaric  splendour.  Dis- 
played upon  the  board  were  the  spoils  of  many  a  bloody 
raid ;  golden  vases  stripped  from  churches,  silver  vessels 
and  golden  plates  seized  in  the  sack  of  cities,  drinking 
cups  studded  with  gems,  once  the  ornament  of  some  altar 
or  palace,  threw  an  appearance  of  rude  magnificence  over 
the  scene.  For  drink  there  was  wine,  and  spirits,  and 
beer;  for  food  there  were  hogs,  cows,  calves,  and  deer 
roasted  whole,  —  to  say  nothing  of  that  glory  of  mediaeval 
cookery,  the  huge  pie  which  had  for  crust  an  immense  ox, 
and  the  ingredients  of  which  were  turkeys,  chickens, 
ducks,  doves,  pigs,  and  any  other  little  delicacy  of  which 
the  cook  could  think  at  the  time. 

Great  was  the  enjoyment  of  the  Franks  at  these  grand 
banquets.  They  ate,  they  drank,  they  talked,  they 
laughed,  they  sang,  they  quarrelled,  they  fought,  —  they 
did  everything  which  barbarians  could  possibly  do  to  give 
themselves  a  good  time. 

At  the  wedding  feast  of  beautiful  Brunehilda,  1300 
years  ago,  there  was  jollity,  far  into  the  night,  and  the 
bride's  heart  was  glad  and  proud,  for  she  had  found  both 
a  spouse  and  a  lover  in  Sigibert. 

The  marriage  ceremony  itself  was  as  simple  as  could  be ; 
the  husband  put  a  ring  on  the  finger  of  his  wife,  and  gave 
her  a  piece  of  money  called  the  denarius ;  that  was  all. 
This  was  the  custom  of  the  Franks.  It  was  also  the  in- 
variable custom  among  Germanic  tribes  that  the  husband 


iv  THE   MEROVINGIAN  KINGS  57 

should  make  the  wife  a  present  on  the  morning  after  the 
marriage.  This  present  was  known  as  the  morning  gift, 
and  was  supposed  to  be  a  mark  of  gratitude  on  the  part  of 
the  husband. 

Now  it  came  to  pass  that  when  Chilperic,  the  elder 
brother,  heard  of  Sigibert's  marriage,  he  was  filled  with 
rage  and  jealousy.  True,  he  himself  had  many  wives,  but 
none  of  them  was  the  daughter  of  a  king.  Clearly,  unless 
he  exerted  himself,  he  would  be  obscured  by  the  greater 
glory  of  his  younger  brother.  Chilperic  was  thoroughly  a 
man  of  his  time,  brutal,  brave,  cunning,  superstitious,  and 
inconstant.  Up  to  this  time  his  career  had  presented  no 
remarkable  features,  except  that  he  had  already  formed  his 
fatal  connection  with  Fredegonda. 

This  woman  was  a  servant  in  the  palace,  and  her  extreme 
beauty  of  face  and  figure  so  moved  Chilperic  that  he  made 
her  his  concubine.  The  girl  was  cunning  and  ambitious, 
the  queen,  Androweda,  was  simple  and  unsuspecting,  and 
Fredegonda  soon  pushed  her  aside. 

It  happened  thus:  Chilperic  had  marched  across  the 
Rhine  to  fight  Saxons,  leaving  Androweda  far  gone  in 
pregnancy.  While  he  was  still  away,  the  child  came.  It 
was  a  daughter,  and  the  queen  asked  Fredegonda  whether 
it  should  be  baptized  while  the  father  was  absent.  Frede- 
gonda advised  baptism.  When  the  christening  day  ar- 
rived, the  godmother  failed  to  attend,  —  Fredegonda  hav- 
ing arranged  it  so.  The  queen,  in  great  distress,  did  not 
know  what  to  do.  "Why  not  be  godmother  yourself?" 
suggested  Fredegonda. 

The  queen  fell  into  the  trap,  and  the  bishop  proceeded 
with  the  ceremony,  according  to  a  prior  agreement  with 
the  cunning  Fredegonda. 


68  THE   STORY  OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

The  Saxons  having  been  disposed  of,  Chilperic  returned 
home,  in  the  manner  of  a  conquering  hero,  and  was  met 
by  outbursts  of  national  applause.  The  people  crowded 
round  and  honoured  him  while  the  prettiest  girls  strewed 
flowers  in  his  path,  and  sang  songs  in  his  praise. 

Listen  to  Fredegonda,  as  she  meets  the  king :  — 

"Blessed  be  God  that  the  king,  our  lord,  has  crushed 
his  enemies,  and  that  a  daughter  is  born  to  him.  But 
with  whom  will  my  lord  sleep  this  night?  for  the  queen, 
my  mistress,  has  become  godmother  to  her  daughter  and 
is  now  my  lord's  gossip." 

The  unsuspecting  wife  stood  in  the  door  of  the  palace, 
her  child  in  her  arms,  awaiting  the  coming  of  her  lord, 
the  king.  With  all  the  love  of  a  true  wife,  with  all  the 
pride  of  a  true  mother,  she  held  out  the  babe  in  her  arms, 
and  presented  it  to  her  husband  with  infinite  joy  and 
tenderness. 

"Woman, "said  Chilperic,  "in  thy  simplicity  thou  hast 
been  guilty  of  a  crime;  in  future  thou  canst  not  be  my 
wife." 

By  the  law  of  the  Church  godmothers  and  godfathers 
became  spiritually  related  both  to  the  parents  and  the 
children,  and  marriage  between  them  was  forbidden.  The 
queen  did  not  know  this,  hence  her  fall. 

Chilperic  divorced  her,  and  married  the  cunning  servant. 
For  fifteen  years  the  deserted  wife  lived  in  a  nunnery, 
and  was  then  murdered  by  order  of  Fredegonda. 

As  has  been  said,  Chilperic  was  aroused  by  the  splendid 
marriage  of  his  brother,  Sigibert,  and  he  set  his  heart 
upon  getting  just  such  a  high-born  wife  for  himself. 

Sending  an  embassy  to  the  king  of  the  Goths,  Chilperic 
demanded  in  marriage  the  hand  of  Galeswintha,  the  sister 


iv  THE  MEROVINGIAN  KINGS  69 

of  Brunehilda.  The  request  was  denied.  Chilperic's 
reputation  had  reached  the  Gothic  court  and  had  inspired 
horror  there.  The  princess  and  her  mother  protested 
against  the  match,  and  piteously  besought  the  Gothic  king 
not  to  consent. 

Finally,  Chilperic  swore  a  mighty  oath  on  the  sacred 
relics,  that  if  Galeswintha  would  become  his  wife  he 
would  put  away  all  others,  and  have  neither  wife  nor 
concubine  but  her. 

Political  reasons  carried  the  day,  and  Galeswintha  was 
sacrificed.  It  is  very  touching  even  now,  this  record  of 
a  maiden's  vain  tears  and  entreaties,  of  a  mother's  plead- 
ings and  prayers,  of  a  father's  hardness  of  heart.  The 
girl  was  delivered  over  to  the  Franks  to  be  carried  out  of 
Spain  into  France.  Day  after  day,  the  frantic  mother 
followed  the  escort,  putting  off  to  the  last  possible  moment 
the  final  leave-taking.  "  Let  me  follow  but  this  day  and 
I  will  return,"  says  the  Gothic  queen.  Then,  on  the  next 
day  it  is,  "  Only  one  more  day,  and  I  will  go."  And  then 
on  the  next  it  is,  "  One  more,  only  one,  grant  it  me !  " 

But  all  things  end,  and  the  day  came  when  the  queen- 
mother  was  told  that  she  could  follow  no  further.  Goths 
they  were,  this  mother  and  daughter,  but  how  like  MS  they 
loved  and  grieved  and  suffered!  One  passionate  strain- 
ing to  the  heart,  one  lingering  pressure  of  arms,  one  great 
sob  without  words,  and  the  bereaved  queen  stands  aside 
and  lets  the  escort  go,  gazing  after  it,  in  mute,  unutter- 
able pain,  till  a  turn  in  the  road  hides  it  from  view. 

Now  Chilperic,  in  expectation  of  his  bride's  coming,  had 
made  his  house  ready;  and  had  swept  out  all  his  wives 
and  concubines  with  one  exception.  With  demure  cun- 
ning Fredegonda  had  appeared  to  submit  meekly  to  her 


60  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

degradation,  and  had  asked  to  resume  her  former  work  as 
servant  in  the  palace.     Chilperic  consented. 

Gales  wintha's  wedding  was  royally  celebrated.  There 
was  a  sumptuous  feast  to  which  all  the  nobles  were  in- 
vited. Ranging  themselves  round  the  young  queen,  the 
warriors,  according  to  old  pagan  custom,  drew  their  swords, 
brandished  them  on  high,  and  swore  fidelity  to  her  as  to 
a  king. 

Chilperic,  of  course,  swore  another  oath,  on  the  sacred 
relics,  binding  himself  in  the  most  stringent  terms  to  be 
faithful  to  Galeswintha. 

Next  morning  the  delighted  savage  gave  her  the  morn- 
ing gift,  in  the  usual  manner.  That  is,  he  took  his  wife's 
right  hand  in  his  own,  and  with  his  left  he  threw  over  her 
head  a  straw,  pronouncing  at  the  same  time  the  names  of 
five  towns  which  were  to  be  her  property,  viz.  Cahors, 
Be*arn,  Bigorre,  Limoges,  and  Bordeaux. 

A.D.  For  several  months  Chilperic  enjoyed  the  novelty  of  one 
568  wife  and  the  companionship  of  a  decent  woman.  Then 
he  grew  tired.  The  monotony  became  a  burden.  Frede- 
gonda  was  on  the  alert,  expecting  this  very  thing.  Quietly 
and  temptingly  she  managed  to  throw  herself  in  the  king's 
way,  and  the  king  forgot  his  oath  of  fidelity  to  his  wife. 

Galeswintha  wept,  complained,  and  begged  leave  to  go 
home.  The  king  professed  penitence,  prayed  pardon,  and 
promised  reform.  The  simple  queen  was  pacified,  and 
one  night  Chilperic  had  her  smothered  as  she  lay  sleeping 
in  her  bridal  bed. 

Fredegonda  thus  came  back  into  place  and  power,  never 
to  be  thrown  off  again. 

Brunehilda,  the  sister  of  the  murdered  woman,  swore 
vengeance  on  her  slayers,  Chilperic  and  Fredegonda. 


JV  THE  MEROVINGIAN   KINGS  61 

Sigibert,  spurred  on  by  Brunehilda,  called  in  aid  from 
Gontlirara,  and  declared  war  upon  the  murderers. 

Gonthram  soon  lost  interest  in  the  case  and  proposed 
mediation.  A  national  council  was  held,  the  guilt  of 
Chilperic  conceded,  and  he  was  condemned  to  surrender  to 
Brunehilda  the  morning  gift  of  her  sister,  namely,  the 
five  towns  already  named. 

To  this  sentence  all  promised  obedience,  and  Chilperic 
swore  another  solemn  oath,  which  he  meant  to  break  at 
his  earliest  convenience. 

In  the  year  573,  he  sent  an  army  under  his  son  Clovis, 
son  of  Androweda,  to  retake  the  five  towns  which  he 
had  given  his  murdered  wife.  They  were  undefended 
and  were  easily  taken ;  but  Gonthram  sent  an  army  to  re- 
capture them,  and  they  were  as  easily  retaken  again. 

Chilperic,  in  great  wrath,  raised  a  larger  army  to  renew 
the  war.  Gonthram  dropped  back  into  the  position  of  a 
neutral,  and  Sigibert  took  up  his  wife's  cause.  Chil- 
peric's  troops,  commanded  by  Theodebert,  his  son,  defeated 
the  opposing  army,  and  laid  waste  the  country  around 
Tours  and  Poitiers  with  wanton  barbarity.  Churches 
were  plundered,  priests  slain  at  the  altar,  nuns  violated, 
convents  burnt,  and  the  whole  region  reduced  to  a 
smoking  ruin. 

Sigibert  aroused  himself,  gathered  a  large  army,  set  out   A.D. 
for  the  scene  of  action,  and  Chilperic's  forces  retreated    5'4 
before  him.     Without  a  single  battle,  the  war  was  ended, 
and  Chilperic  begged  off  from  punishment  by  piteous  en- 
treaties and  by  swearing  another  solemn  oath  on  the  relics 
of  the  saints. 

In  ever  so  short  a  time  he  grew  bold  again.  Sigibert's 
army  had  marched  home  and  disbanded.  Chilperic,  bent 


62  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

upon  the  recovery  of  the  morning  gift  of  the  murdered 
queen,  again  put  an  army  into  the  field. 

Brunehilda  aroused  Sigibert  once  more,  and  he  sum- 
moned to  his  standards,  by  unlimited  promises  of  booty, 
the  half-savage  tribes  beyond  the  Rhine. 

Ever  ready  for  marauding  adventures,  these  terrible 
warriors  came  over  in  great  numbers. 

A.D.  Sigibert  advanced  upon  the  oft-perjured  Chilperic,  and 
575  that  tough  barbarian  was  as  little  inclined  to  fight  as 
before.  He  steadily  and  earnestly  fell  back.  Sigibert's 
march  brought  him  to  Paris,  and  he  occupied  it,  his  oath 
to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  From  this  base,  he 
operated  so  successfully  that  the  enemy  was  beaten  on  all 
sides,  and  Chilperic  was  shut  up  in  Tournay. 

Believing  that  his  cause  was  hopeless,  the  Frankish 
chiefs  of  Chilperic  invited  Sigibert  to  come  among  them, 
offering  to  elect  him  their  king.  Having  invested  Tour- 
nay,  and  cut  off  all  retreat  from  Chilperic,  Sigibert  ad- 
vanced into  the  country  of  the  Neustrian  Franks,  as  they 
had  asked  him  to  do. 

Brunehilda,  naturally  anxious  to  have  her  share  in  the 
enjoyment  of  all  this  glory,  set  out  from  Metz,  her  capi- 
tal, for  Paris,  carrying  immense  treasures  in  silver  and 
gold  with  her.  Still  young  and  beautiful,  she  made  a 
splendid  appearance  as  she  entered  Paris ;  and  her  wel- 
come was  emphasized  by  the  huzzas  of  the  rabble,  the 
flatteries  of  the  clergy,  and  the  homage  of  the  aristocracy. 

Only  one  man  of  prominence  held  back.  This  was 
Germain,  bishop  of  Paris.  Thinking  only  of  his  dis- 
tracted country  and  his  offended  God,  Germain  bravely 
remonstrated  with  Brunehilda  and  Sigibert,  and  used 
his  utmost  efforts  to  stop  the  war. 


iv  THE   MEROVINGIAN   KINGS  63 

But  Sigibert  would  not  listen,  nor  would  Brunehilda. 

"  Whoso  diggeth  a  pit  for  his  brother,  shall  fall  into  it 
himself,"  said  Germain,  warningly;  but  the  warning  fell 
unheeded. 

On  a  plain  near  Vitry,  in  Neustrian  Gaul,  the  Frankish 
chiefs  assemble  to  elect  a  king  in  place  of  Chilperic. 
Armed  as  for  battle,  the  fierce  warriors  form  a  circle,  with 
Sigibert  in  the  centre.  Four  soldiers  advance,  bringing 
a  buckler.  Sigibert  sits  down  upon  it,  and  the  warriors 
raise  it  to  the  height  of  their  shoulders.  Three  times  they 
bear  Sigibert,  in  this  manner,  round  the  circle,  amid  the 
noisy  acclamations  of  all  present.  Swords  and  spears  are 
clashed  against  the  iron  bands  of  the  shields ;  and,  with 
this  martial  clamour,  Sigibert  is  proclaimed  king  of  the 
Neustrian  Franks. 

Then  follow  feasts,  mock  fights,  and  various  rejoic- 
ings ;  in  the  midst  of  which  suddenly  enter  two  emissaries 
of  Fredegonda,  who  stab  King  Sigibert  —  and  he  dies. 

At  once,  the  whole  situation  reverses  itself. 

Bereft  of  their  king,  Sigibert's  troops,  after  slaying 
his  murderers,  disband  in  confusion.  Chilperic,  so  lately 
a  mere  caged  rat,  has  by  the  desperate  expedient  of  his 
terrible  wife,  become  once  more  a  king.  His  subjects 
return  to  their  allegiance.  Some  of  Sigibert's  chiefs 
swear  fealty  to  Chilperic,  and  that  monarch,  taking  the 
offensive,  plans  the  seizure  of  his  brother's  family  and 
kingdom. 

Brunehilda  is  at  Paris,  plunged,  at  one  tremendous  blow, 
from  a  pinnacle  into  the  depths.  Power  is  gone;  friends 
fall  off;  she  is  in  a  far  country  from  her  own;  she  is 
watched ;  she  cannot  flee ;  she  is  about  to  become  a  pris- 
oner to  the  murderer  of  her  sister,  and  her  helpless  chil- 


64  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

dren  to  fall  into  the  bauds  of  remorseless  rivals  who  covet 
their  heritage. 

A.D.  The  situation  is  desperate,  but  Brunehilda  has  wit 
675  and  courage.  Moreover,  she  has  a  few  faithful  friends. 
Her  chief  concern  is  her  oldest  boy,  Chilperic.  If  she 
can  but  get  him  back  into  his  own  country,  much  may 
be  saved.  The  nobles  will  rally  round  him,  he  will  be 
chosen  to  fill  his  father's  place,  and  thus  his  uncle  will 
not  seize  the  kingdom.  With  woman's  art,  the  mother 
conceals  the  child  in  a  market  basket,  the  basket  is  let 
down  from  the  window,  and  by  the  faithful  Gundobald  is 
carried  safely  beyond  the  walls  of  Paris  to  a  devoted  friend 
outside,  arid  then — away!  away!  as  fast  as  steed  can  fly. 
By  this  device  it  happened  that  when  Chilperic  came  and 
looked  into  the  cage,  the  bird  which  he  most  wanted  had 
flown.  The  little  king  was  already  at  Metz,  and  the 
Franks  had  put  the  circle  of  their  bright  swords  about 
him.  That  heritage  Chilperic  will  not  get. 

But  he  seizes  Brunehilda  and  all  her  treasures.  He 
does  not  put  her  to  death  nor  treat  her  harshly.  She  is  so 
beautiful,  so  winning,  so  much  to  be  pitied,  that  the  brutal 
king,  who  had  smothered  one  of  the  sisters,  spares  the 
other. 

And  now  a  domestic  tragedy  slowly  gathers.  This 
beautiful  queen,  so  unfortunate  and  so  attractive,  has 
smitten  the  heart  of  Chilperic's  son.  Merovius  loves  her; 
and  this  passion  will  lead  him,  miserably,  to  a  bloody 
death. 

Renewing,  once  more,  his  purpose  of  taking  back  the 
morning  gift  of  Galeswintha,  King  Chilperic  sent  another 
army,  under  Merovius,  to  seize  the  five  towns.  Instead 
of  doing  this,  the  mad  young  man  left  his  army  and 


iv  THE  MEROVINGIAN  KINGS  65 

went  to  Rouen,  where  Brunehilda  was  being  held  under 
guard. 

Merovius  persuaded  her  to  marry  him.  This  unnatural 
union  of  a  nephew  with  his  uncle's  widow  was  sanctioned 
by  Pretaxtus,  bishop  of  Rouen,  and  Fredegonda  afterwards 
had  him  deposed  and  slain  for  it. 

The  outraged  Chilperic  advanced  upon  Rouen,  and 
caught  the  cooing  lovers  unawares.  They  barely  had 
time  to  take  refuge  in  a  sanctuary  to  avoid  falling  into 
the  hands  of  the  furious  king. 

Brutal  as  Chilperic  was,  he  dared  not  violate  their  asy- 
lum. His  only  resource  was  to  entice  the  lovers  out. 
This  he  did,  swearing  solemnly  to  all  sorts  of  assurances. 
As  soon  as  they  were  at  his  mercy,  he  violated  his  oath, 
as  usual,  bore  Merovius  off,  a  prisoner,  and  left  Brune- 
hilda behind  at  Rouen,  more  strictly  guarded  than  ever. 

Fredegonda  never  gave  Chilperic  any  rest  until  he  had 
slain,  one  after  another,  all  the  children  of  Androweda. 
They  were  in  her  way,  and  in  the  way  of  her  own  chil- 
dren. She  now  set  to  work  to  compass  the  death  of 
Merovius.  She  made  Chilperic  believe  that  his  son  was 
conspiring  against  his  life  and  crown.  Without  any 
proof,  the  king  degraded  him. 

First,  Merovius  was  deprived  of  his  arms  and  his  mili- 
tary baldric ;  then  his  long,  flaxen  hair,  the  pride  of  the 
Merovingian  race  and  the  badge  of  royalty,  was  shorn. 

Clad  in  the  Roman  dress,  which  was  that  of  the  clergy, 
Merovius  was  put  on  horseback,  and  sent,  under  escort, 
toward  the  monastery  of  St.  Calais,  where  he  was  to  become 
a  monk. 

Filled  with  rage  and  shame,  the  degraded  prince  wended   A.D. 
his  way  toward  the  convent;  but  a  young  Frankish  war-    576 


66  THE    STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

rior,  Gailen,  who  was  one  of  the  leudes,  or  military  com- 
panions, of  Merovius,  lay  in  ambush  to  surprise  the  escort 
and  set  the  prisoner  free.  Throwing  off  his  monkish  garb, 
Merovius  once  more  clad  himself  in  the  military  costume 
of  the  Franks,  and  hastened  to  take  shelter  in  the  sanctu- 
ary of  St.  Martin  of  Tours. 

King  Chilperic's  anger  may  be  imagined.  "Drive  the 
apostate  from  your  sanctuary ;  otherwise  I  will  lay  waste 
all  the  surrounding  country;"  this  was  the  message  sent 
by  the  irate  king  to  the  bishop,  Gregory  of  Tours,  who 
replied  that  even  the  Goths  had  respected  the  right  of 
sanctuary,  and  he  believed  it  would  not  be  violated  now. 

Pushed  forward  by  Fredegonda,  Chilperic  raised  an 
army,  and  threatened  the  city  of  Tours.  Merovius,  not 
willing  to  bring  such  a  calamity  upon  those  who  had  shel- 
tered him,  wished  to  depart,  but  was  persuaded  to  stay  by 
another  fugitive  from  Chilperic's  vengeance,  Gonthram 
Boson.  This  man  had  caused  the  brother  of  Merovius  to 
be  slain  after  that  prince  had  been  defeated  in  battle  and 
taken  prisoner. 

Chilperic's  physician,  Marileif,  was  then  at  Tours,  on 
his  way  from  Soissons  to  Poitiers,  his  native  city.  He 
had  with  him  much  baggage  and  few  followers;  much 
wealth  and  few  defenders.  This  physician  was  a  good 
old  man,  and  most  unwarlike ;  he  had  never  killed  any- 
body, except  in  a  strictly  professional  manner. 
A.D.  Now,  Merovius  was  sorely  in  need  of  money,  and  so 
were  his  companions.  With  one  accord  they  fell  upon 
the  rich  doctor,  dispersed  his  escort,  beat  his  body,  and 
plundered  his  baggage.  He  barely  escaped  with  his  life, 
and,  with  hardly  a  garment  to  cover  his  nakedness,  took 
shelter  in  the  cathedral. 


iv  THE   MEROVINGIAN   KINGS  67 

Here  we  have  a  faithful  picture  of  the  times.  Chilperic 
chasing  Merovius,  and  Merovius  chasing  the  doctor; 
while  both  fugitives  flee  for  refuge  to  the  Church. 

Chilperic 's  army  being  ready  to  march  upon  Tours,  he 
suddenly  became  timid  and  uncertain.  He  did  not  know 
exactly  what  St.  Martin  might  do  to  him,  if  he,  the  king, 
violated  the  sanctuary  of  the  saint.  Naturally,  the  sug- 
gestion came  to  the  king  to  write  to  the  saint  and  inquire 
about  it.  Acting  upon  this  happy  thought,  Chilperic  wrote 
a  letter,  addressed  to  St.  Martin,  and  asked  if  he,  the  king, 
had  the  right  to  take  his  fugitive  from  the  sanctuary. 
This  letter  was  sent  by  hand  to  Tours,  laid  upon  St.  Mar- 
tin's tomb,  with  a  sheet  of  paper  on  which  the  saint  might 
write  his  reply.  For  three  days  the  king  waited,  and 
then  sent  his  messenger  for  the  saint's  answer.  Nothing 
had  been  written  on  the  blank  sheet,  and  Chilperic 's 
irresolution  increased. 

Fredegonda  now  took  control  of  the  matter.  She  bribed 
Gonthram  Boson  to  betray  Merovius  and  lead  him  out  of 
the  sanctuary. 

This  scheme  was  successful.  Merovius,  weary  of  the 
inactivity  of  his  life,  was  eager  to  get  away.  He  believed 
he  could  elude  his  father's  forces,  and  reach  the  kingdom 
of  Brunehilda.  That  queen  had  been  restored  to  her 
country  upon  the  demand  of  the  Australian  nobles ;  the 
more  readily,  as  Chilperic  shrewdly  guessed  that  she  would 
stir  up  civil  strife  as  soon  as  she  got  there.  He  was  not 
mistaken. 

Merovius  then  hired  a  band  of  mercenaries  with  Doctor    A.D. 

RTT 

Marileif 's  money,  left  the  sanctuary,  and  set  out  for  Metz. 

At  Auxerre,  he  had  a  skirmish  with  Erp,  the  count  of 

that  city,  and  was  captured.     Making  his  escape  soon 


68  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

afterwards,  he  took  refuge  in  another  sanctuary,  he  and 
the  faithful  Gailen.  After  two  months,  he  left  this 
refuge  and  set  out  for  Austrasia,  where  he  hoped  to  find 
wife,  honours,  ease,  and  power. 

Brunehilda's  son,  a  child,  was  nominally  reigning  in 
this  part  of  France ;  but,  in  reality,  the  government  was 
in  the  hands  of  a  few  powerful  nobles  and  bishops.  Among 
these  there  were  feuds,  violent  and  bitter,  but  they  all 
agreed  upon  one  thing,  — the  exclusion  of  Brunehilda. 
JEgidius,  bishop  of  Reims,  and  Duke  Raukiug  were  the 
principal  chiefs  of  the  ruling  class. 

This  Rauking  was  a  parlous  brute.  It  was  an  amuse- 
ment of  his  to  compel  the  slaves,  who  held  torches  while 
he  supped,  to  put  out  the  lights  by  holding  them  against 
their  naked  legs.  The  louder  the  slaves  howled,  the 
louder  Rauking  laughed. 

Two  of  his  serfs,  a  young  man  and  woman,  had  married 
without  his  permission.  This  angered  him  deeply.  The 
priest  who  had  united  the  pair  interceded  for  them.  Duke 
Rauking  appeared  to  yield,  and  swore  an  oath  not  to  sepa- 
rate them.  He  ordered  a  grave  dug,  and  into  it  he  cast 
the  young  husband  and  the  young  wife,  and  buried  them 
alive. 

When  he  next  saw  the  priest,  Duke  Rauking  said  to 
him,  with  a  mocking  sneer, — 

"I  have  kept  my  oath;  they  are  now  united  forever." 

Such  were  the  nobles  who  surrounded  Brunehilda,  and 
denied  her  rights  as  mother  of  the  king. 

Naturally  enough,  these  ferocious  animals  had  no  wel- 
come for  Merovius.  He  would  be  in  their  way.  His 
presence  would  strengthen  the  queen,  and  his  power  would 
diminish  theirs. 


iv  THE   MEROVINGIAN   KINGS  69 

Hence,  they  fiercely  refused  to  consent  that  Merovius 
should  live  at  Metz;  and  when  that  tired  wanderer  at 
length  reached  the  home  of  his  queen  and  wife,  he  found 
no  shelter,  no  rest,  no  safety.  He  was  driven  away  like 
an  outlaw,  and  with  heavy  heart  he  went  back  the  way  he 
had  come.  Greater  caution  was  now  necessary.  Hiding 
in  the  woods  by  day,  he  travelled  at  night,  hoping  to  get 
to  cover  again  in  the  sanctuary  at  Tours. 

But  Chilperic  was  on  the  watch  to  cut  him  off;  and  he 
spread  his  army  all  round  Tours,  burning  and  pillaging, 
and  not  sparing  even  the  property  of  the  Church. 

Hounded  down  like  a  wolf,  Merovius  slunk  further 
into  the  remote  country,  where  the  lower  classes  of  the 
Franks  took  pity  on  him,  and  hid  him.  Chilperic  found  it 
impossible  to  effect  his  capture  by  force  or  surprises ;  and 
treachery  was  once  more  tried. 

Fredegonda  applied  to  Bishop  ^Egidius  and  to  Gonthram 
Boson,  and  through  them  a  plot  was  laid  for  the  betrayal 
of  the  fugitive. 

Certain  nobles  of  Chilperic's  dominions  were  sent  to 
tempt  Merovius  into  a  conspiracy  against  his  father. 
They  found  the  place  where  he  lay  concealed,  and  pre- 
tended that  they  had  come  to  support  him  in  his  right  to 
the  throne. 

"Since  thy  hair  has  grown  once  more,"  said  they  to 
Merovius,  "we  will  submit  to  thee,  and  are  ready  to 
abandon  thy  father,  if  thou  wilt  come  amongst  us." 

Merovius  fell  into  the  snare,  and  at  once  set  out  with 
these  spies  of  his  father,  accompanied  by  the  faithful 
Gailen  and  a  few  others.  They  advanced  into  Chilperic's 
dominions,  and  at  first  Merovius  was  warmly  welcomed, 
and  treated  like  a  king.  At  length,  when  he  had  ad- 


70  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP,   iv 

vanced  far  enough  to  make  retreat  impossible,  he  was  in- 
vited to  rest  in  one  of  the  farms  of  the  Frankish  inhabi- 
tants. No  sooner  had  the  doors  closed  upon  him  than 
they  were  immediately  made  fast,  bolts  shot  home,  win- 
dows barred,  while  through  and  round  the  house  was  heard 
the  ominous  rattle  of  arms. 

Too  late  Merovius  saw  it  all,  —  the  trap  into  which  he 
had  walked.  There  was  no  escape.  Mercy  he  had  none 
to  expect.  Death  in  its  worst  form  he  knew  had  come  at 
last,  suddenly,  horribly. 

"  Gailen,"  said  he,  "  we  have  never  had  but  one  soul  and 
one  mind  until  now ;  do  not  let  me  fall  into  the  hands  of 
my  enemies.  I  pray  thee  take  thy  sword  and  slay  me." 

The  faithful  companion  obeyed  his  lord,  and  slew  him 
on  the  spot. 

The  father  came  in  great  haste  to  seize  his  son,  to  gloat 
over  his  misery,  and  to  put  him  to  death  with  tortures. 
He  found  only  a  corpse. 

The  king  wreaked  his  vengeance  upon  Gailen  and  the 
others.  One,  being  old,  was  simply  beheaded;  another 
was  broken  on  the  wheel;  Gailen  perished  more  barbar- 
ously: his  hands,  feet,  nose,  and  ears  were  cut  off,  and  he 
was  left  to  die  slowly  in  torment. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  MEROVINGIAN  KINGS  (continued) 
THE  CONVENT  OF  QUEEN  RADEGONDA 

"CTREDEGONDA  had  not  yet  cleared  the  way  to  the 
throne  for  her  own  son,  and  she  was,  therefore,  not 
yet  satisfied.  Clovis,  son  of  Chilperic,  was  alive,  and  so 
was  Androweda,  his  mother.  Fredegonda  accused  Clovis 
of  causing  the  death  of  three  of  her  children  by  sorcery. 
He  was  cast  into  prison,  and  she  had  him  murdered.  His 
mother,  Androweda,  was  strangled  in  her  convent. 

At  last  came  the  turn  of  Chilperic  himself.  Fredegonda 
was  unduly  intimate  with  Landeric,  an  officer  of  the 
palace,  and  she  suspected  that  her  husband  knew  it. 

King  Chilperic,  returning  from  the  chase  one  day,  in  the    A.D. 
year  584,  was  in  the  act  of  dismounting  from  his  horse 
when  he  was  struck  two  mortal  blows  by  a  man  who  im- 
mediately fled.      The  assassin  was  one  of  the  queen's 
servants. 

Chilperic  left  a  son,  Clotaire,  only  a  few  months 
old,  and,  as  his  sovereign  guardian,  Fredegonda,  the  serf, 
became  ruler  of  Neustrian  France.  For  thirteen  years 
she  maintained  her  position,  and  then  died  peacefully 
in  her  bed  at  Paris,  powerful  and  dreaded  to  the  last. 

Of  the  sons  of  Clotaire  I.  only  one  was  now  alive, 
Gonthram.  He  was  the  saintliest  of  the  four,  and  the 
priests  loved  him  dearly.  Chilperic  had  not  loved  the 

71 


72  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

clergy,  nor  they  him.  Their  power  and  riches  exasperated 
him ;  and  he  foresaw  the  day  of  their  absolute  domination 
even  over  kings?  It  gave  him  pleasure  to  annul  wills 
made  in  their  favour;  and  he  would  often  exclaim,  "See 
how  all  our  wealth  goes  to  the  churches !  Truly  no  one 
reigns  but  those  bishops." 

Gonthram  was  different.  He  was  almost  a  monk  in 
appearance  and  conduct,  although  given  to  concubinage, 
plurality  of  wives,  and  frequent  relapses  into  savagery. 

He  once  put  several  freedmen  to  the  torture  because  he 
had  lost  a  hunting  horn ;  and  he  caused  a  noble  Frank  to 
be  executed  upon  suspicion  of  having  killed  a  deer  on  the 
royal  domain. 

In  the  year  580,  Gonthram's  second  wife,  Austrehilda, 
fell  sick,  and  soon  realized  that  she  was  dying.  It  oc- 
curred to  her  that  if  she  could  have  company  in  death,  it 
would  be  less  lonely.  She  therefore  besought  her  hus- 
band to  promise  that  on  the  day  of  her  funeral  her  two 
physicians  should  be  executed.  The  king  cheerfully  con- 
sented, not  having  the  heart  to  deny  his  wife  a  boon  so 
reasonable ;  and  on  the  day  appointed,  the  king  punctually 
had  the  doctors'  heads  cut  off. 

The  death  of  his  three  brothers  alarmed  Gonthram,  and 
he  swore  to  pursue  the  murderers  of  Chilperic  to  the  ninth 
generation,  "  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  the  wicked  custom 
of  killing  kings." 

He  believed  that  his  own  life  was  in  danger,  and  one 
day  in  church,  after  the  deacon  had  cautioned  the  congre- 
gation to  be  silent  for  the  hearing  of  the  mass,  King  Gon- 
thram turned  to  the  people  and  said :  "  I  pray  you  all,  men 
and  women,  here  present  to  be  ever  faithful  to  me,  and 
not  to  slay  me,  as  you  have  latterly  slain  my  brother.  Let 


v  THE   MEROVINGIAN   KINGS  73 

me  live  at  least  three  years  longer,  so  that  I  may  rear  my 
nephews,  whom  I  have  adopted,  for  fear  that  it  should 
happen  that  after  my  death  you  should  have  no  strong 
man  of  our  family  to  defend  you." 

The  people  were  greatly  moved,  and  began  to  pray,  at 
once,  that  this  strong  man  should  not  be  taken  from  them. 

Fredegonda  satisfied  Gonthram  of  her  innocence,  con- 
vinced him  that  his  brother,  Chilperic,  had  been  slain  by 
emissaries  of  Brunehilda,  and  he  received  the  terrible 
widow  and  her  son,  Clotaire  II.,  at  his  court  in  Burgundy, 
where  she  bided  her  time. 

A  curious  episode  now  followed.  There  was  a  certain 
Gaul,  named  Gundobald,  whose  parentage  was  a  mystery. 
He  had  been  carefully  reared  and  educated,  and  had  been 
allowed  to  wear  his  hair  long,  after  the  manner  of  kings. 
One  day  his  mother  presented  him  to  Childebert  I.  and 
said:  "This  is  thy  nephew,  the  son  of  King  Clotaire  I., 
who  hates  him.  Take  him  with  thee,  for  he  is  thy  flesh." 
Having  no  son,  Childebert  granted  the  request,  and  kept 
the  boy  near  him. 

Clotaire  I.,  hearing  of  this,  sent  a  messenger  to  his 
brother,  Childebert,  saying,  "  Send  the  young  man  to  me, 
that  he  may  be  near  me."  Childebert  complied  at  once, 
and  when  Clotaire  looked  upon  the  boy,  he  said,  "  He  is 
no  son  of  mine,"  and  ordered  that  his  long  hair  be  cut  off. 
Under  Merovingian  custom,  this  debarred  the  young  man 
from  the  throne,  or  any  pretensions  thereto,  —  at  least, 
until  his  hair  should  have  grown  long  again. 

After  Clotaire's  death,  Gundobald  was  received  by 
Charibert;  but  Sigibert  became  uneasy,  for  by  that  time 
the  man's  hair  was  grown  suggestively  and  dangerously 
long.  Sending,  therefore,  to  Charibert  for  the  supposed 


74  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

bastard,  Sigibert  again  had  his  hair  cut,  and  dismissed 
him  as  no  longer  to  be  feared. 

After  living  at  Cologne  until  his  locks  began  to  be  trea- 
sonous once  more,  and  not  knowing  but  that  in  clipping 
his  hair  so  often  his  head  might  be  clipped  off  also,  Gun- 
dobald  fled  into  Italy,  where  he  was  well  received  by 
Narses  the  eunuch,  governor  of  that  part  of  the  Roman 
Empire.  In  Italy  he  married  and  begot  sons.  He  then 
moved  away  to  Constantinople,  where  his  fortunes  seem 
to  have  prospered  under  the  favour  of  the  emperors. 

Now  it  came  to  pass  that  certain  great  nobles  in 
France  thought  they  saw  an  opportunity  to  overthrow 
the  Merovingian  dynasty,  and  divide  the  land  among 
themselves.  All  the  sons  of  Clotaire  I.  were  dead  but 
Gonthram,  and  he  was  one  of  the  weakest  of  the  weak. 
He  had  apparently  been  upheld  only  by  the  prowess 
of  Mommulus,  his  general,  and  the  influence  of  the 
bishops. 

In  the  place  of  his  brothers  were  women  and  children. 
It  seemed  to  the  conspirators  that  the  moment  was  come 
to  push  Gonthram  and  the  children  aside,  and  to  seize 
upon  the  kingdom  for  themselves. 

The  ringleaders  of  this  conspiracy  were  Mommulus, 
Gonthram  Boson,  and  the  Bishop  ^Egidius.  To  cloak 
their  designs,  they  determined  to  use  Clotaire's  bastard. 

Gundobald  was  invited  into  France.  The  conspirators 
assured  him  that  they  believed  him  to  be  Clotaire's  son, 
and  that  they  wanted  him  for  their  king.  They  told  him 
that  the  people  would  rise  up  in  his  support,  and  that 
they,  the  noble  conspirators,  would  defend  him  with  their 
lives.  To  this  they  swore,  solemnly. 

Gonthram  Boson,  the  soul  of  the  intrigue,  went  in  per- 


v  THE   MEROVINGIAN   KINGS  75 

son  to  Constantinople,  where  Gundobald  was  living,  and 
entreated  him  to  claim  his  crown  in  France. 

Gundobald  yielded  to  the  temptation,  gathered  up  much 
treasure,  for  necessary  campaign  expenses,  and  set  out 
from  Constantinople  in  quest  of  a  throne. 

Landing  at  Marseilles,  he  was  kindly  welcomed  by  the 
bishop,  and  received  many  assurances  of  support  from 
the  chief  nobles  of  the  kingdom.  The  bishop,  Theodore, 
furnished  him  with  horses,  and  Gundobald  went  to  Avi- 
gnon, the  residence  of  Mommulus.  For  some  reason,  not 
clearly  stated,  Gonthram  Boson  took  offence  at  the  bishop's 
action;  and,  in  revenge,  he  fell  upon  the  treasures  of 
Gundobald  and  appropriated  them  to  his  own  use.  This 
was  painful  to  Gundobald,  but  not  necessarily  hurtful  to 
the  bishop. 

With  a  pretender  in  the  kingdom  and  treason  on  foot, 
the  good  old  king,  Gonthram,  found  himself  in  peril. 
Naturally  he  called  for  help.  His  strongest  hope  was 
that  Brunehilda  and  her  son  would  come  to  his  relief. 

Before  determining  which  side  they  would  take,  Brune- 
hilda and  her  son,  Childebert  II.,  sent  an  embassy  to 
Gonthram,  asking  that  he  restore  those  oft-disputed  five 
towns,  the  morning  gift  of  the  murdered  Galeswintha. 

To  add  to  the  humiliation  of  the  aged  king,  of  whom 
this  demand  was  made,  the  chiefs  of  the  embassy  were 
the  chiefs  of  the  conspiracy,  ^Egidius,  the  bishop,  and 
Gonthram  Boson,  the  comprehensive  knave  and  mar- 
plot. 

These  men  were  so  insolent  in  their  behaviour  to  Gon- 
thram, so  threatening  in  their  language,  that  he  boiled 
over  with  wrath,  abused  them  roundly,  ordered  them  out 
of  his  palace,  and  gave  orders  that  as  they  departed  for 


76  THE   STOKY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

home  they  should  be  copiously  pelted  with  mud,  decayed 
cabbages,  stale  eggs,  rotten  fish,  and  dung. 

His  loyal  subjects,  sympathizing  with  their  good  old 
king,  obeyed  his  orders  in  letter  and  in  spirit.  The 
ambassadors  were  scandalously  besmirched  with  miscel- 
laneous filth,  despite  the  sanctity  of  the  ambassadorial 
character,  and  went  home  furious,  for  indeed  they  smelt 
villanously. 

Brunehilda  and  Childebert  II.  at  once  went  over  to 
Gundobald,  and  the  pretender  made  rapid  headway  in  the 
south.  The  nobles  all  declared  for  him,  the  bishops  fol- 
lowed, and  Gundobald  found  himself  master  of  Toulouse, 
Bordeaux,  and  other  cities  of  Aquitaine. 

It  was  Gonthram's  turn  now  to  become  genuinely  fright- 
ened, and  he  did  so.  He  made  peace  with  Brunehilda  and 
Childebert  II.,  bought  them  off  with  huge  concessions, 
and  thus  left  Gundobald,  unsupported,  to  face  an  irre- 
sistible combination. 

His  fall  was  sudden  and  terrible.  The  traitors  scuttled 
the  ship  and  left  it,  as  such  men  usually  do,  each  hasten- 
ing to  be  first  in  betrayal,  and  highest  in  reward  therefor. 
The  very  chiefs  who  had  invited  him  over  abandoned  him, 
with  bitter  mockeries  and  reproaches.  He  was  not  even 
allowed  to  escape  with  his  life  and  return  to  Constanti- 
nople. He  was  knocked  off  his  horse  by  a  chief  named 
Olio;  and  as  he  turned,  pitiable  wretch,  to  run,  Gon- 
thram  Boson  smashed  his  skull  with  a  stone. 
A.D.  The  old  king,  Gonthram,  was  exceedingly  wroth  with 
693  his  recreant  nobles  and  bishops,  and  meant  to  have  exacted 
stern  satisfaction  from  them,  but  death  overtook  him  and 
the  guilty  escaped. 

The  time  for  sweeping  revenge  seemed  now  to  have 


v  THE  MEROVINGIAN  KINGS  77 

come  to  Brunehilda.  She  invaded  Burgundy,  first,  to 
annex  it;  but  Fredegonda  was  on  the  alert,  and,  with 
her  lover,  Landeric,  she  marched  her  army  against  the 
invaders. 

The  Neustrians  carried  green  boughs  in  front  of  them, 
and  thus  Fredegonda's  force  appeared  to  be  a  moving 
forest.  Brunehilda's  troops,  the  Austrasians,  were  so 
startled  at  a  sight  which  savoured  of  sorcery,  witchcraft, 
and  vague  diabolism,  that  they  took  to  their  heels  without 
striking  a  blow. 

This  was  the  last  victory  of  Fredegonda,  who  soon  after    A.D. 
died.     Childebert  II.  being  dead,  the  whole  of  France  fell    697 
to  three   children:  Fredegonda's  son,    Clotaire  II.,   and 
Brunehilda's  grandsons,  Theodebert  II.  and  Theoderic  II. 

Brunehilda  was  now  the  stronger.  Burgundy  was 
added  to  the  Austrasian  kingdom,  and,  through  her  grand- 
sons, she  ruled  the  greater  part  of  France.  It  was  her 
policy  to  surround  these  young  men  with  loose  women, 
in  order  that  they  might  be  less  inclined  to  concern  them- 
selves with  affairs  of  state.  To  Theodebert  she  gave  a 
young  female  slave,  who  had  ambitious  notions  of  her 
own ;  and  this  young  slave  managed  to  get  the  old  queen 
banished  from  Theodebert's  court. 

Taking  refuge  in  Burgundy  with  Theoderic,  she  made 
and  unmade  mayors  of  the  palace,  and  enjoyed  greater 
power  than  ever. 

In  the  years  600-604,  the  Burgundians  made  war  upon    A.D. 
Clotaire  II.,  beat  him,  and  took  Paris  itself.     Theode-  600~ 
bert  II.    came  to  Clotaire 's  relief,  and  saved  him  by  a 
treaty.     But  for  this  fatal  blunder,  Fredegonda's  empire 
would  have  passed  away,  and  the  final  triumph  would 
have  remained  with  her  rival. 


78  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAT. 

Brunehilda,  enraged  at  seeing  her  prey  escape  her, 
wreaked  her  vengeance  upon  Theodebert.  She  caused 
his  brother  to  make  war  upon  him.  Defeated  by  The- 
oderic,  he  was  captured  and  slain.  The  infant  son  of 
Theodebert  likewise  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  victor,  and 
one  of  the  soldiers,  by  Theoderic's  orders,  lifted  up  the 
child  by  the  foot  and  beat  its  brains  out  against  a  rock. 

Theoderic  lived  only  three  years  longer  (613)  and  died, 
leaving  four  children.  The  nobles  groaned  at  the  thought 
of  a  long  minority  under  the  rule  of  Brunehilda,  and  they 
conspired  against  her. 

Unconscious  of  the  extent  of  her  danger,  Brunehilda 
kept  up  her  courage,  and  marched  against  Clotaire  II. 
with  an  army  of  German  mercenaries.  In  the  face  of  the 
enemy,  she  was  abandoned  utterly  by  bishops,  nobles,  and 
troops.  She  became  a  prisoner,  friendless  and  doomed. 
A.D.  After  eighty  years  of  restless  adventure;  after  a  long 
613  career  of  good  and  bad,  of  courageous  struggles  against 
adversity,  and  abuses  of  power  in  time  of  success;  after 
a  long  journey,  stained  by  many  crimes  and  relieved  by 
many  proofs  of  a  high,  royal,  and  enlightened  nature,  this 
wonderful  old  woman  was  at  length  the  prisoner  of  her 
deadliest  foe,  the  son  of  Fredegonda. 

Her  fate  was  hideous,  even  for  those  hideous  times. 

The  young  savage  turned  the  wretched  old  queen  over 
to  the  executioners,  who  inflicted  nameless  outrages  upon 
her  for  three  days.  Then,  she  was  brought  forth,  naked, 
and  paraded  before  the  army  on  a  camel's  back;  and  then 
she  was  tied  by  hair,  arm,  and  leg,  to  the  tail  of  a  wild 
horse,  which,  running  and  kicking,  dashed  her  to  pieces 
—  she,  the  daughter  of  a  king,  the  widow  of  a  king,  and 
the  mother  of  kings. 


v  THE   MEROVINGIAN  KINGS  79 

Upon  the  death  of  Brunehilda,  the  entire  kingdom  of   A.D. 
France  was  once  more  united  under  Clotaire  II. 

In  628  Dagobert  succeeded  his  father,  Clotaire  II.,  and  A.D. 
under  him  the  Merovingian  dynasty  reached  its  greatest 
power,  and  showed  the  first  symptoms  of  its  decline.  The 
Basques,  south  of  the  Garonne,  were  conquered,  the  dukes 
of  the  Bretons  made  submission,  and  the  greater  part  of 
the  Saxons,  Frisians,  Thuringians,  Alemanni,  and  Bava- 
rians paid  tribute. 

The  empire  of  the  Franks  now  extended  from  the  Weser 
to  the  Pyrenees,  and  from  the  Western  ocean  to  the  fron- 
tiers of  Bohemia. 

Dagobert  was  the  ally  of  the  emperor  of  Constantinople, 
and  wielded  influence  among  all  neighbouring  nations. 

At  home  he  concerned  himself  with  the  administration 
of  justice,  visited  all  parts  of  his  kingdom,  put  down  law- 
lessness as  far  as  he  was  able,  founded  the  abbey  of  St. 
Denis,  committed  the  laws  of  the  various  tribes  to  writ- 
ing, and  compelled  the  Church  to  disgorge  a  portion  of 
the  royal  domains. 

Before  he  died,  his  power  weakened.  Conquered  tribes 
refused  tribute  and  defied  his  arms. 

The  great  crime  of  Dagobert's  reign  was  his  massacre 
of  the  Avars,  or  Bulgarians.  Nine  thousand  of  these 
people,  having  been  driven  from  their  homes  in  Pannonia, 
asked  leave  to  settle  in  France.  Dagobert  consented,  and 
assigned  them  to  Bavaria.  The  difficulty  of  feeding  and 
housing  so  many  people  soon  became  apparent,  pressing, 
and  perilous.  To  rid  himself  of  all  danger  from  that 
source,  Dagobert  ordered  his  guests  murdered. 

The  Bavarians  fell  upon  the  unsuspecting  Avars  in  the 
night,  while  they  slept,  and  in  one  tremendous  massacre 


80  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

they  perished,  —  nearly  9000  men,  women,  and  children, 
the  welcomed  guests  of  a  Christian  king. 
A.D.  After  Dagobert,  came  other  Merovingian  kings,  but 
638  none  of  any  ability.  Their  long  hair  was  their  only 
proof  of  royalty.  They  won  no  honours  in  war,  nor  in 
peace.  They  let  the  mayors  of  the  palace  conduct  the 
government.  They  kept  themselves  within  doors,  and 
lived  lives  of  sloth  and  sensuality.  A  great  pig  in  a 
great  sty,  fed  and  fattened  at  the  public  expense,  was 
what  the  Merovingian  king  had  become. 

The  people  rarely  saw  him.  Only  now  and  then  was 
he  brought  forth  on  public  exhibition,  and  solemnly 
paraded  through  the  streets  of  Paris  in  an  ox-cart.  The 
exhibition  being  over,  the  mayors  of  the  palace  would  put 
the  oxen  in  one  stall  and  the  king  in  another,  and  they 
would  resume  government  while  he  would  resume  his 
place  in  the  mire  of  sensuality. 

The  fact  that  these  imbeciles  could  rule  a  great  country 
from  year  to  year,  from  century  to  century,  shows  the  tre- 
mendous strength  of  any  system  when  once  established. 
These  men  were  so  notoriously  unfit  for  the  place  they 
held  that  they  were  known,  even  in  those  days,  as  the 
"Do-nothing  kings."     Yet  they  continued  till  the  year 
A.D.    752  to  hold  the  throne.     By  that  time  the  people  had 
752    grown  tired  of  the  farce.     The  mayors  of  the  palace,  hav- 
ing exercised  the  power  of  royalty  for  several  generations, 
assumed  the  title  also. 

The  last  of  the  Merovingians  was  quietly  deposed,  his 
long  hair  clipped,  and  he  was  shut  up  in  a  convent.  He 
was  so  utterly  incapable  of  any  mischief  that  they  thought 
it  a  useless  ceremony  to  cut  off  his  head. 

Wild  and  dark  are  these  Merovingian  times ;  the  strong 


v  THE   MEROVINGIAN  KINGS  81 

beat  clown  the  weak;  the  honestly  industrious  are  de- 
spised, and  the  ruffianly  robber  is  hero  of  the  day.  Gaul 
lies  beneath  the  feet  of  armed  bands.  The  once  master- 
ful Roman  crouches  in  fear;  for  he  can  read  Latin  and 
write  fair  lines,  but  he  can  fight  no  more.  The  native 
Gaul,  so  long  enslaved,  and  not  quite  so  polished  as  the 
Roman,  has  less  learning  and  less  spirit;  hence  the 
brutal  Frank,  fearless,  fierce,  and  strong,  lords  it  over  all. 

He  does  not  want  to  settle  down  to  work,  —  what  he 
wants  is  war  and  booty.  The  lust  for  blood,  for  deeds  of 
daring,  for  plunder,  for  wine  and  women,  consumes  him, 
and  the  spirit  of  adventure  gives  him  no  rest. 

Two  sons  of  Clovis,  about  to  set  out  upon  a  raid  into 
Burgundy,  ask  the  third  son,  Theodoric,  to  join  them. 
He  refuses,  and  opposes  the  war.  Not  so  his  followers, 
his  companions-in-arms.  "If  thou  refusest  to  march  into 
Burgundy  with  thy  brethren,"  they  say  to  him,  "we  give 
thee  up,  and  follow  them."  They  are  ready  to  die  by  him 
in  battle,  but  not  to  rust  with  him  in  monotonous  peace. 
To  hold  them  to  their  allegiance,  Theodoric  is  under  the 
necessity  of  leading  them  to  war. 

In  like  manner,  Clotaire  I.  is  himself  compelled  to 
fight  the  Saxons,  against  whom  he  had  led  an  expedition, 
but  who  have  sued  for  peace. 

"Cease,  I  pray  you,"  said  the  king  to  his  warriors,  "to 
be  evil-minded  against  these  men.  They  speak  us  fair. 
Let  us  not  go  and  attack  them,  lest  we  bring  down  upon 
us  the  wrath  of  God." 

But  the  Franks  would  not  listen,  and  insisted  on  war. 
Again  the  Saxons  pleaded  for  peace,  offering  rich  gifts 
and  proposing  to  surrender  half  their  lands.  The  warriors 
still  urged  Clotaire.  "Hold,"  cried  he.  "We  have  not 


82  THE    STORY   OF    FRANCE  CHAP. 

right  on  our  side.  If  you  enter  into  this  war,  I  will  not 
lead  you." 

Then  the  enraged  warriors  threw  themselves  upon  him, 
tore  his  tent  to  pieces,  and  bore  him  away  by  force,  threat- 
ening to  kill  him  if  he  did  not  march  with  them. 

The  king  was  compelled  to  lead  on ;  but  the  Saxons 
turned  upon  the  Franks  desperately,  and  cut  them  to 
pieces. 

The  Gallo-Roman  civilization  rapidly  disappeared. 
The  arts  of  peace  were  despised;  and  those  Gauls  who  had 
not  been  plundered  at  the  first  invasion  of  the  Franks 
were  pillaged  now  at  the  slightest  provocation.  Armed 
bands  roved  about,  sometimes  in  the  day,  sometimes  at 
night,  in  search  of  prey.  The  Gauls  themselves  sank  to 
the  level  of  the  Frankish  morals,  and  lost  their  culture, 
their  industrious  habits,  and  their  peaceful  character.  On 
all  sides,  there  was  resort  to  physical  force,  to  the  rule  of 
the  strongest. 

Against  these  raging  currents  of  disorder,  the  Church 
reared  itself  like  a  rock.  The  monastery  was  the  social 
Gibraltar.  Educated  priests,  forced  to  study  the  nature 
of  the  fierce  warrior  from  across  the  Rhine,  soon  learned 
how  to  rule  him. 

The  man  of  intellect  asserted  his  natural  supremacy  over 
the  man  of  brawn  and  muscle.  The  Frank  feared  no 
living  creature;  death  itself  he  despised;  but  the  priest 
terrified  him  through  his  superstition,  his  ignorance,  his 
credulity,  his  want  of  reasoning  faculties.  Claiming  to 
represent  God,  the  priest  threw  round  the  savage  warrior 
a  spell  which  bound  him.  He  could  not  understand,  and 
hence  he  trembled.  Visible  enemies  he  could  defy,  but 
foes  invisible  conquered  him. 


v  THE   MEROVINGIAN   KINGS  83 

No  monarch  of  earth  could  have  summoned  soldiers  the 
Franks  would  have  feared  to  meet;  but  the  priest  called 
to  his  aid  the  vague  phantoms  of  the  air,  and  the  barba- 
rians quaked  with  terror.  The  mysterious  formulas  of 
Christian  worship,  the  signs  and  symbols,  the  prayers, 
songs,  and  incantations,  the  dreadful  curse  of  excommu- 
nication, the  confident  claim  of  miraculous  powers  from 
on  high,  —  all  these  chained  the  mind  of  the  Frank,  and 
held  him,  half-rebelliously,  in  spiritual  bondage. 

Not  afraid  of  the  priest,  he  was  afraid  of  the  power  back 
of  the  priest.  His  terror  was  all  the  greater  because  he 
did  not  know  what  this  power  was,  or  what  it  would  do. 

"Wah!  Wah!  What  is  this  being  that  drags  down 
the  strength  of  the  strongest  kings?"  cried  the  dying 
Clotaire.  And  so  it  was  with  the  others;  they  felt  the 
power  of  the  Invisible,  and  they  trembled  before  it. 

The  monastery,  then,  became  a  fortress,  a  refuge,  a 
nucleus  of  order.  Dimly  enough,  the  light  of  learning 
continued  to  burn  within  its  walls.  Whatever  books  re- 
mained were  there.  Whatever  of  purity  and  culture  sur- 
vived was  there.  The  farms  around  the  convent  were  the 
only  prosperous  farms,  for  they  alone  enjoyed  protection. 
The  schools  of  the  convent  were  poor  enough,  but  except- 
ing these  there  were  none  at  all.  Steady  streams  of  wealth 
flowed  in  upon  the  monastery,  its  revenues  being  greater 
and  more  certain  than  those  of  the  State;  hence  there  was 
plenty  at  the  convent  when  there  might  be  dearth  in  the 
hall. 

Ambitious  men  sought  the  monastery,  because  abbots, 
bishops,  and  cardinals  were  more  powerful  than  kings, 
their  tenure  of  office  securer,  and  their  emolument  richer. 
Peaceable  men  sought  the  same  shelter,  because  nowhere 


84  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

else  were  they  safe.  Studious  men  took  orders  because 
nowhere  else  could  they  find  books,  seclusion,  and  quiet. 
Rich  men  turned  churchwards  to  save  their  wealth  from 
robbers.  Poor  men  took  the  same  route,  because  nowhere 
else  were  they  assured  of  light  work  and  good  homes. 
The  slave  fled  to  the  monastery,  because  there  he  was  cer- 
tain of  indulgent  masters  and  humane  treatment.  Perse- 
cuted innocence  sought  it  because  only  there  were  the 
weak  defended  against  the  violence  of  the  strong.  Con- 
scious guilt  sought  it,  because  it  alone  threw  charitable 
refuge  over  crime,  and  allowed  the  hunted  sinner  time  for 
repentance  and  pardon  in  the  precincts  of  the  sanctuary. 

In  later  times,  too  much  power  led  to  abuses  of  it;  too 
much  wealth  led  to  idleness  and  corruption.  But  it  can 
be  said  with  truth  that  the  monasteries  were  bulwarks  of 
order  in  the  disorderly  days  of  the  Merovingians.  They 
were  conservators  of  peace,  guardians  of  morals,  cham- 
pions of  right,  protectors  of  the  weak,  and  homes  to  the 
poor,  the  friendless,  the  broken  in  spirit. 


In  the  year  529  Clotaire  I.  made  war  upon  the  Thu- 
ringians,  he  and  his  brother  Theodoric.  The  Franks  were 
victorious.  Much  booty  and  many  prisoners  were  taken. 
Among  the  captives  who  fell  to  the  lot  of  Clotaire  were 
two  children  of  the  royal  house  of  Thuringia,  the  son  and 
daughter  of  King  Berther.  The  girl  was  so  beautiful  that 
Clotaire  determined  to  take  her  to  himself;  but,  as  she 
was  only  eight  years  of  age,  she  was  put  into  one  of  his 
palaces  to  be  reared  and  educated.  The  young  princess 
was  gifted  with  mental  qualities  of  a  high  order,  and  she 
received  not  the  simple  training  usual  with  German  girls, 


v  THE   MEROVINGIAN  KINGS  86 

but  the  wider  education  of  a  rich  lady  of  Gaul.  Roman 
language  and  literature  were  taught  her,  and  she  became 
acquainted  with  all  the  beauties  of  the  profane  writers  of 
Rome.  She  grew  enthusiastic  in  her  love  of  books,  and 
her  piety  was  as  genuine  as  her  love  of  literature.  The 
coarse  life  of  the  average  Frank  she  abhorred. 

As  she  grew  older,  the  fate  which  awaited  her  filled  her 
with  terror.  Clotaire  was  to  her  a  barbarian,  the  mur- 
derer of  her  family,  the  spoiler  of  her  native  land.  She 
hated  and  loathed  him ;  to  become  his  wife  was  a  punish- 
ment worse  than  death.  Overpowered  by  her  fears,  she 
fled  from  the  palace  to  escape  marriage  with  him,  but  was 
caught  and  brought  back.  Forced  to  become  one  of  Clo- 
taire's  wives  (538),  she  endured  him  for  several  years,  but 
so  coldly  and  reluctantly  that  he  himself  said,  "  It  is  a 
nun  I  have  got,  not  a  queen."  • 

She  busied  herself  in  good  works,  tended  the  sick,  min- 
istered to  the  poor,  and  avoided  her  brute  of  a  husband  as 
far  as  possible.  Her  brother,  who  had  likewise  grown  up 
in  captivity,  gave  Clotaire  some  offence,  and  the  young 
prince  was  put  to  death. 

This  was  too  much;  the  outraged  woman  could  endure 
it  no  longer. 

Feigning  a  desire  to  seek  consolation  from  her  bishop, 
she  went  to  Noyon,  under  escort  of  Frankish  warriors. 

Radegonda  found  the  bishop  officiating  at  the  altar,  and 
she  broke  forth,  in  her  great  distress :  "  Most  holy  priest, 
I  wish  to  leave  this  world,  and  to  change  my  costume. 
Consecrate  me,  I  pray  thee,  to  the  service  of  the  Lord." 

The  bishop  was  thunderstruck,  and  he  became  greatly 
afraid ;  for  to  take  a  king's  wife  from  him  was  a  daring 
thing  to  do. 


86  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

The  Prankish  warriors,  terribly  alarmed  at  the  thought 
of  going  back  to  Clotaire  without  the  queen,  surrounded 
the  priest,  and  cried,  "  Do  not  dare  to  give  the  veil  to  her 
—  her,  the  king's  wife."  They  laid  hands  upon  him  and 
dragged  him  from  the  steps  of  the  altar,  while  the  queen 
ran  into  the  vestry.  In  her  despair,  she  caught  up  a  nun's 
dress,  which  chanced  to  be  near,  and  threw  it  over  her 
own,  and  marched  back  towards  the  sanctuary  where  the 
bishop  sat,  sad  and  irresolute. 

"If  thou  delayest  to  consecrate  me,"  cried  the  queen, 
firmly,  "  and  f  earest  men  more  than  God,  the  shepherd  will 
demand  of  thee  the  soul  of  his  lamb." 

She  had  touched  the  right  chord  then.  The  sad  and 
doubtful  bishop  thrilled  to  it  as  the  soldier  wakes  to  the 
call  of  the  bugle.  He  doubted  no  longer,  feared  no  longer, 
but  resolutely  facing  the  peril  and  the  duty,  he  annulled 
her  marriage  on  the  spot,  and  consecrated  her  a  deaconess. 

The  Frankish  warriors  were  awed  by  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  queen  and  the  courage  of  the  priest ;  they  went  their 
way,  murmuring  and  marvelling. 

The  queen  had  come  to  the  church  in  her  royal  robes, 
resplendent  in  purple,  in  gold,  in  jewels.  She  stripped 
off  her  jewels  and  her  ornaments  —  "  Lay  these  on  the 
altar."  She  broke  her  massive  gold  armlets  with  her  own 
hands  —  "Give  these  to  the  poor." 

Then  she  thought  of  her  own  safety,  and  she  fled  away 
to  another  church,  and  to  another,  a  hunted  fugitive,  flee- 
ing the  wrath  of  the  wild  Clotaire.  Not  daring  to  put 
foot  beyond  the  sanctuaries,  her  life  was  almost  that  of  a 
criminal  and  an  outlaw,  and  she  knew  no  rest,  night  nor 
day. 

Petition  after  petition  she  sent  to  the  king,  all  to  no 


v  THE   MEROVINGIAN  KINGS  87 

purpose.  Bishops  intervened  and  negotiated,  without 
success.  The  king  stormed  and  threatened,  and  the 
queen  continued  to  resist  and  to  plead. 

Frightened  by  his  threats,  she  fled  to  Poitiers,  a  sanctu- 
ary far  from  the  king.  Clotaire  in  person  set  out  for 
Poitiers,  swearing  to  lay  hands  on  her  and  bring  her  back. 
He  got  no  further  than  Tours.  There  the  bishop,  Ger- 
main, stopped  him,  and  talked  to  him  in  so  firm  a  tone 
that  the  barbarian  drew  back  —  afraid  of  that  vague,  mys- 
tic power  of  the  Church  which  had  awed  stronger  men 
than  he,  and  held  them  fast. 

Clotaire  not  only  agreed  to  let  his  wife  go  in  peace, 
but  surrendered  to  her  own  use  the  morning  gift  which 
he  had  bestowed  upon  her  at  their  marriage. 

With  this  she  founded  the  convent  of  Poitiers,  — built 
in  the  form  of  a  Roman  villa,  and  dedicated  to  the  reli- 
gious, literary,  and  domestic  culture  of  women. 

Here  the  ex-queen  lived  a  dream  life  for  thirty  years. 
In  useful  work,  in  literary  recreation,  in  harmless  amuse- 
ments, in  helpful  charities,  in  the  forming  of  pious,  wom- 
anly character,  year  after  year  rolled  past  the  cloister  and 
carried  with  them  no  breath  of  scandal,  no  stain  of  pride 
or  sin. 

The  queen  did  not  herself  ask  to  be  made  abbess. 
Agnes,  a  girl  of  Gallic  race,  much  younger  than  herself, 
and  whom  she  had  loved  from  infancy,  was  named  Mother 
Superior;  and  the  queen,  a  simple  nun,  took  her  turn  at 
all  the  work,  — cooked,  swept,  carried  wood  and  water,  as 
the  others  did;  but  yet  she,  as  foundress,  royal  by  birth, 
royal  by  mental  gifts,  and  royal  in  queenly  soul  and  heart, 
was  the  empress,  uncrowned,  of  this  ideal  kingdom  of  the 
chaste  and  the  good. 


88  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

After  fifteen  years,  there  came  to  this  monastery  a 
Roman  poet,  Venantius  Fortunatus. 

This  man  was  genial  and  gifted,  elegant  in  manner,  a 
courtier  by  nature  and  profession.  The  pet  of  Gallo- 
Roman  aristocratic  circles,  he  travelled  from  province 
to  province,  a  welcome  guest  in  all  palaces,  turning 
his  verses  and  his  flatteries  with  equal  art.  He  could 
soothe  the  proud  nobles  of  Gaul  and  soften  the  fierce 
chiefs  of  the  Franks.  In  short,  he  was  a  literary  man 
of  the  world;  suave,  insinuating,  plausible,  refined,  and 
accomplished.  He  paid  poetical  court  to  the  bishops, 
praised  them  in  neat  verse ;  and,  at  the  marriage  feasts  of 
kings,  he  laid  his  offering  of  polished  Latin  odes  at  the 
feet  of  the  barbarian  monarchs,  who  did  not  understand 
what  it  all  meant,  but  who  were  thoroughly  pleased, 
nevertheless. 

Thus  Fortunatus  ambled  about  from  one  snug  shelter  to 
another  —  something  of  an  Epicurean;  soft  of  hand,  soft 
of  speech,  but  understanding  quite  well  how  to  steer  his 
flower-wreathed  boat  along  the  turbulent  current  of  the 
Merovingian  stream. 

In  567  Fortunatus  wanders  up  to  Poitiers  and,  at- 
tracted by  the  fame  of  the  ex-queen  and  her  nunnery, 
must,  of  course,  pay  it  a  visit.  He  is  given  a  royal  wel- 
come. His  reputation  had  preceded  him,  and  Radegonda 
and  Agnes  felt  honoured  by  his  visit.  The  gay  and  genial 
poet  found  himself  at  once  in  sympathetic  company.  His 
every  word  was  eagerly  heard,  his  talent  appreciated,  his 
vanity  flattered,  and  his  heart  warmed  by  the  evident  ad- 
miration of  these  lovely  and  distinguished  listeners.  So 
delicious  to  the  brilliant  waif  was  this  sympathetic  friend- 
ship of  two  amiable,  educated,  and  refined  women,  that  he 


v  THE  MEROVINGIAN  KINGS  89 

lingered  on,  week  after  week,  month  after  month,  drink- 
ing in  all  the  enjoyment  of  companionship  so  charming. 

When,  at  length,  he  faintly  murmured  something  about 
moving  on,  Radegonda  sighed,  "Why  should  you  go? 
Why  not  remain  with  us  ?  " 

Not  being  particularly  anxious  to  find  a  reason  for  going 
away,  the  poet  found  none ;  and  so  he  remained  —  re- 
mained to  be  near  the  queen,  whom  he  loved  and  revered. 
He  settled  at  Poitiers,  took  orders,  and  became  a  priest  of 
the  metropolitan  church. 

Thus,  without  scandal,  he  could  be  near  Agnes  and  the 
queen.  And  he  was  most  useful  to  them.  The  convent 
had  much  property ;  he  looked  after  it,  guarded  it  from 
pillage,  kept  on  good  terms  with  influential  bishops  and 
nobles,  and  saved  the  ladies  of  the  house  great  trouble  and 
loss.  He  was  wise,  amiable,  and  capable,  and  thus  he 
became  the  spiritual  father  of  the  abbey,  the  guide  of  its 
abbess  and  of  the  queen. 

Their  esteem  for  him  never  grew  less.  He  was  just  the 
man  to  hold  their  admiration.  The  contrast  between  him 
—  courtly,  cultured,  and  kind  —  and  the  barbarians,  such 
as  they  had  been  accustomed  to  endure,  was  so  great  that 
Fortunatus  became  something  like  an  ideal  to  these  simple 
women,  who,  most  of  them,  knew  little  of  the  great  world 
beyond  their  walls. 

They  flattered  his  vanity  by  personal  attentions  and  by 
praise  of  his  verses ;  they  ministered  to  his  Epicurean  tastes 
with  dainty  dishes ;  they  pleased  his  love  of  the  beautiful 
by  wreathing  his  dining-room  with  flowers  and  by  cover- 
ing his  table  with  roses.  A  language  of  tenderness  and 
respect  graced  their  companionship;  and  their  devotion 
was  so  touching,  and  so  pure,  that  nothing  could  be  more 


90  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

like  that  ideal  existence  which  is,  to  most  people,  but  a 
dream. 

Radegonda  was  of  deeper  nature  than  the  poet.  She 
often  said,  "  I  am  a  poor  captive  woman."  She  was  a  relic 
of  the  wars  —  her  people  were  dead ;  her  kingdom  lost ;  no 
tie  of  blood  united  her  to  anything  in  France.  She  was 
alone. 

But  although  she  was  nearing  the  age  of  fifty,  and  her 
hair  was  streaked  with  white,  she  had  not  forgotten  her 
home,  her  parents,  and  her  kindred.  She  plaintively  said: 

"  I  have  seen  women  carried  off  into  slavery,  with  hands 
tied  and  hair  streaming.  One  walked  barefooted  in  the 
blood  of  her  husband,  another  passed  over  the  corpse  of 
her  brother.  Each  one  has  had  cause  for  tears,  and  I,  I 
have  wept  for  all.  A  whole  world  separates  me  from 
what  I  love  most.  Where  are  they,  my  kindred,  my 
friends  ?  When  my  tears  cease  to  flow,  my  grief  is  not 
hushed." 

Such  was  life  in  this  convent  1300  years  ago.  Here 
was  religion  without  severity;  peace  without  idleness; 
dignity  without  pride;  seclusion  without  selfishness; 
affectionate  companionship  without  sin. 

Think,  then,  of  this  little  world,  within  the  larger 
world;  for  this  cloister  is  but  one  of  many,  and  it  is  a 
vital  portion  of  the  social,  political,  and  religious  fabric 
of  the  times. 

Within  the  convent  all  is  serene ;  without,  all  is  storm 
and  strife.  Within  there  is  peace  and  love,  the  charities, 
and  refined  graces  of  life ;  without  there  is  war  and  hate, 
cruel  wrongs  and  rough  barbarities  of  word,  speech,  and 
deed. 

Clotaire,  raging  like  a  wild  savage,  rushes  upon  a  re- 


T  THE   MEROVINGIAN  KINGS  91 

bellious  son  and  burns  him  —  he  and  his  wife  and  children. 
Brunehilda  intrigues  and  murders;  Fredegonda  poisons 
and  stabs;  Chilperic  butchers  and  wastes;  cities  go  up  in 
flames ;  fields  are  trampled  by  the  war-horse ;  the  dead  lie 
piled  in  heaps  where  they  fell ;  and  ruffians  hew  and  hack 
fellow-ruffians  from  one  end  of  France  to  the  other. 

The  great  noisy  world  rolls  by  with  all  its  struggles  for 
honours,  and  wealth,  and  power;  men  slay  and  are  slain, 
cheat  and  are  cheated,  crush  and  are  crushed  —  in  the 
mad  race. 

Infinitely  sweeter  is  the  other  picture,  —  the  simple 
joys,  the  quiet  usefulness,  the  loving  charity,  the  tender 
companionship,  the  bloodless  hand  which  saves  rather  than 
kills. 

Thus,  in  the  age  of  grossness,  refinement  did  not  die ; 
in  a  reign  of  blood  and  rapine,  white  peace  won  sinless 
triumphs.  The  work  of  the  king  perished;  that  of  the 
queen  endured.  He  built  furiously  and  savagely,  on  the 
sand;  she,  gently  and  humanely,  on  the  rock.  Of  Clo- 
taire's  work,  naught  remains;  a  brute  of  brutes,  he  went 
as  the  brutes  go,  and  left  no  trace.  Of  the  queen's  work, 
all  remains  as  a  lofty  example  —  nothing  died  but  the 
queen. 


CHAPTER  VI 

SOCIAL  AND  POLITICAL  CONDITIONS;   ORIGIN  OF 
AKISTOCKACY 

THE  CARLOVINGIAN  KINGS  :  PEPIN,  CHARLEMAGNE,  Louis  THE  HANDSOME 
AND  HIS  SONS 

T  ET  us  remember  that  we  have  at  least  three  different 
racial  elements  in  Merovingian  France.  There  is 
the  Gaul,  who  has  become  partially  Romanized;  there  is 
the  Roman  himself;  and  there  is  the  Frank;  of  these 
three  elements  the  Gaul  is  the  weakest.  The  Roman 
bishop  and  the  Frankish  chief  unite,  and  the  combina- 
tion is  irresistible. 

Before  the  invasion  of  the  Franks,  the  municipal  sys- 
tem was  highly  organized  in  Gaul.  The  Roman  Empire 
was  a  government  of  towns ;  no  political  influence  ema- 
nated from  the  rural  communities ;  in  fact,  rural  life,  as 
we  now  know  it,  did  not  then  exist.  The  people  dwelt 
in  the  town  —  even  those  whose  daily  work  carried  them 
out  into  the  fields.  It  was  only  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  towns  that  the  soil  was  cultivated;  elsewhere  it  was 
covered  by  woods,  and  was  wilderness  or  marsh. 

These  towns  enjoyed  local  self-government  as  a  rule,  so 
far  as  internal  affairs  were  concerned ;  and  each  of  them 
was  a  separate  and  distinct  political  body  which  sought 
no  connection  with  the  others.  Indeed,  it  is  a  curious 
fact  that  when  the  Roman  emperor,  hoping  to  call  into 

92 


CHAP,  vi          SOCIAL  AND  POLITICAL   CONDITIONS  93 

life  a  national  spirit  and  create  a  confederation  sufficiently 
strong  to  resist  barbarian  inroads,  offered  to  allow  the 
towns  of  Gaul  to  form  a  general  confederacy,  which  should 
have  representative  government,  the  towns  rejected  the 
offer  and  refused  to  elect  delegates;  to  such  an  extent 
had  the  Roman  system  destroyed  national  spirit.  The  law 
administered  in  the  towns  was  the  Roman  civil  law. 

With  the  Franks,  law  and  government  were  essentially 
different.  As  already  stated,  the  Germans  were  a  people 
without  towns,  just  as  they  were  without  a  priestly  caste, 
an  aristocracy,  an  hereditary  ruler,  or  a  system  of  private 
ownership  of  land.  Yet  the  conquered  Roman  imposed 
upon  the  conquering  Frank  his  religion,  his  law,  his 
political  system,  and  his  theory  of  property. 

We  have  already  seen  how  the  Franks  became  Chris- 
tians. Let  us  study  other  changes  equally  radical. 

The  chiefs  of  the  Franks  always  had  attached  to  their 
personal  service  in  war  a  band  of  youths,  chosen  for  their 
strength,  courage,  and  fidelity.  Csesar  had  remarked  a 
similar  institution  among  the  Gauls.  This  personal  body- 
guard was  devoted  to  the  chief.  If  he  died  in  battle,  they 
perished  also ;  it  was  a  disgrace  to  survive  him. 

This  chosen  band  was  called  by  the  Romans  the  comita- 
tus ;  by  the  Germans  the  leudes,  or  companions  of  the 
chief. 

Now,  it  naturally  followed  that,  in  a  successful  cam- 
paign, the  chief  would  handsomely  reward  his  devoted 
body-guard.  Up  to  the  time  of  the  conquest  of  Gaul,  the 
Frankish  chiefs  had  nothing  more  to  give  than  horses, 
arms,  and  chattels  taken  from  temples  or  towns;  in  the 
conquest  of  France,  however,  there  were  enormous  tracts 
of  land  to  divide  among  the  conquerors.  As  Clovis  grew 


94  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

more  powerful,  he  allowed  the  custom  of  equal  division  to 
fall  into  disuse.  Money,  bright  cloth,  and  chattels  of 
sundry  kinds  were  good  enough  for  the  common  soldier; 
the  land  and  the  houses  he  kept  for  himself,  the  bishop, 
and  the  leudes. 

Thus  the  favoured  body-guard  of  the  chief  grew  into  a 
landed  aristocracy;  and  Clovis  rested  his  throne  on  two 
foundations,  — the  nobles  and  the  priests. 

By  the  same  growth  of  wealth  and  power  in  the  hands 
of  a  victorious  chief,  the  election  of  kings  soon  became  a 
farce.  Whoever  the  nobles  and  the  bishops  supported 
became  king.  No  longer  did  the  freemen  of  the  tribe 
meet,  listen  to  the  candidates,  murmur  dissent  when  dis- 
pleased, clash  spears  upon  shields  when  satisfied,  and  bear 
high  upon  a  buckler  the  man  of  their  choice.  Clovis  him- 
self had  obtained  his  own  crown  in  this  manner,  but  his 
vast  addition  to  the  wealth  and  the  influence  of  the  kingly 
office  annihilated  the  elective  principle,  so  far  as  the 
common  people  were  concerned. 

The  same  causes  overthrew  the  democratic  form  under 
which  the  Germans  had  governed  themselves.  Clovis  had 
crushed  the  Frankish  chiefs,  and  had  moulded  their  sepa- 
rate dominions  into  one  great  kingdom.  It  was  no  longer 
possible  for  the  tribesmen  to  meet  and  discuss  national 
affairs  as  the  tribesmen  of  the  separate  chiefs  had  formerly 
done.  The  territory  was  too  large.  The  representative 
principle  was  not  a  part  of  their  system,  and  when  they 
could  not  meet  in  person,  they  no  longer  met  at  all. 
Thus  self-government  passed  out  of  their  hands  and 
power  was  lodged  in  the  hands  of  the  king. 

This,  however,  was  true  of  national  affairs  only;  in 
local  matters  each  tribe  still  ruled  itself,  for,  while  Roman 


vi  SOCIAL  AND  POLITICAL  CONDITIONS  95 

law  governed  Gauls  and  Romans,  the  Prankish  law  gov- 
erned the  Franks. 

To  the  bishops,  the  doctrine  of  the  absolute  power  of 
kings  was  familiar,  for  they  got  it  from  the  Roman  law. 
It  suited  their  Church  government,  and  it  suited  the  am- 
bition of  Frankish  kings;  therefore  these  rulers  soon 
became  absolutists,  forgetting  utterly  that  in  the  beginning 
they  had  been  merely  the  elected  chiefs  of  a  free  tribe. 

While  the  Germans  roamed  over  the  primitive  forests 
of  Germany,  community  of  property  in  land  suited  them ; 
but  now  all  was  changed.  Here  were  houses  in  Gaul 
worth  having;  clustered  vineyards,  orchards  laden  with 
fruit,  fields  yellowing  with  bountiful  harvests.  All  these 
were  tempting  to  the  individual  man;  and  he  began  to 
wish  for  a  permanent  home,  such  as  Romans  and  Gauls 
possessed. 

The  Roman  law  encouraged  this  desire,  and  the  bishops 
and  the  king  united  in  gratifying  it.  Private  ownership 
of  land  took  the  place  of  tribal  communism,  and  the 
doctors  of  the  law  even  introduced  the  theory  that  the 
title  to  it  all  was  vested  in  the  king,  and  that  he  alone 
could  dispose  thereof. 

The  first  of  the  mayors  of  the  palace  whom  it  is  necessary   A.D. 
to   mention  was  called  Pippin,   or   Pepin,   of   Heristal.     687 

He  was  duke  (leader)  of  the  Austrasian  Franks,  and 
belonged  to  a  noble  family,  which  the  conquest  of  Gaul 
had  enriched.  He  allowed  the  nominal  king  to  keep  up 
the  appearance  of  royalty,  and  even  showed  him  at  rare 
intervals,  in  an  ox-cart  procession,  through  the  streets  of 
Paris;  but  Pepin  was  the  real  king.  Other  Frankish 
nobles  resented  this,  and  made  war  upon  him.  As  a 
political  necessity  Pepin  revived  the  right  of  popular  as- 


A.D. 

732 


96  THE    STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

semblies,  and  by  calling  the  people  together  once  a  year 
he  obtained  their  good  will  and  their  support,  thus  making 
himself  strong  and  maintaining  his  supremacy.  Under 
his  wise  rule,  France  was  victorious  and  prosperous. 

Pepin  died  in  714  and,  leaving  no  legitimate  son,  his 
power  was  grasped  by  Charles  Martel,  one  of  his  bastards. 
After  some  fierce  lighting,  Charles  made  good  his  position 
and  became  as  much  the  king  of  France  as  Pepin  had 
been. 

His  most  famous  and  important  work  was  the  winning 
of  the  great  battle  of  Tours,  wherein  he  overthrew  the 
Saracens,  and  turned  back,  for  all  time,  the  onset  of 
Mohammedanism. 

Charles  died  in  739,  admired  of  all  the  world  but  un- 
loved by  the  Church;  for  this  stalwart  soldier  had  seized 
upon  certain  clerical  property  and  appropriated  it  to  the 
service  of  the  State,  in  its  time  of  need.  In  revenge,  the 
monks  circulated  the  story  that  they  had  dug  into  Charles' 
grave  and  found  there  nothing  but  an  ugly  dragon.  This 
was  a  figurative  way  of  saying  that  Charles  was  in  hell, 
and  that  they  were  glad  of  it.  In  fact,  one  of  the  bishops 
went  so  far  as  to  say,  under  oath,  that  he  himself  had  seen, 
with  his  own  eyes,  Charles  Martel  burning  in  the  flames 
of  the  everlasting  fire. 

A  Merovingian  figurehead,  named  Childeric  III.,  was 
nominally  reigning  king  when  Pepin  the  Short  succeeded 
his  father,  Charles  Martel,  as  uncrowned  king. 

After  securely  seating  himself,  Pepin  determined  to  get 

rid  of  the  Merovingian  shadow  of  a  king.     The  support  of 

a  majority  of  the  nobles  was  obtained,  and  then  he  turned 

A.D.    to  the  bishop  of  Rome,  or  Pope  as  he  was  now  called,  and 

751    asked  him  to  decide  who  should  be  king  of  France;  Chil- 


vi  SOCIAL  AND   POLITICAL  CONDITIONS  97 

deric,  who  had  the  title  but  lacked  the  ability,  or  himself, 
who  had  the  ability  but  lacked  the  title.  The  Pope  de- 
cided in  Pepin's  favour,  a  previous  arrangement  having 
been  made  to  that  effect. 

The  assembly  of  the  nobles,  having  voted  that  Pepin    A.D. 
should  be  their  king,  lifted  him  on  their  bucklers,  after    752 
the  ancient  custom,  amid  the  clashing  of  iron  spears  upon 
iron  shields,   and   Bishop   Boniface   anointed  him  with 
the  oil  which  had  come  directly  from  heaven,  and  without 
which  his  title  would  not  have  been  sacred  in  the  eyes  of 
the  faithful. 

Soon  after  his  coronation  Pepin  invaded  Italy,  made 
bloody  war  upon  the  Lombard  settlers,  took  a  large  part 
of  their  country,  and  made  a  gift  of  it  to  the  Pope. 

This  donation  of  territory  became  the  foundation  of  the 
temporal  power  of  the  popes.  Previous  to  this,  they  had 
exercised  spiritual  dominion  only.  But  when  they 
usurped  the  right  of  deciding  that  Pepin  should  be  king 
of  France,  instead  of  the  reigning  monarch,  they  had 
seized  a  power  which  was  to  prove  as  terrible  to  kings  as 
it  was  to  the  people. 

There  is  nothing  more  dangerous  than  a  precedent, 
nothing  harder  to  combat  than  a  claim  once  admitted; 
therefore  the  wise  man  of  all  generations  has  repeated  the 
warning,  "Resist  the  Beginnings." 

We  have  in  this  episode  a  striking  illustration  of  the 
manner  in  which  national  affairs  are  transacted. 

An  officer  of  the  royal  household  wants  to  become  a 
king.  He  reaches  an  understanding,  not  with  the  people, 
but  with  the  Pope  and  the  grandees.  The  reigning  mon- 
arch is  shut  up  in  a  cloister,  and  the  officer  is  made  king. 
The  new  monarch  marches  over  the  Alps  with  an  army, 


98  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

captures  cities  and  towns  and  much  territory,  and  donates 
them  to  the  Pope. 

Thus  the  ambitious  officer  gets  a  kingdom,  and  the  Pope 
gets  a  principality.  What  did  it  cost?  The  lives  of 
many  brave  Frenchmen,  whose  bones  bleached  on  the 
plains  of  Lombardy,  far  from  wife  and  child  and  home. 
What  did  the  people  get  out  of  the  trade?  Nothing. 
They  got  the  privilege  of  doing  the  work  and  the  fighting 
—  of  losing  their  lives  in  a  quarrel  which  was  not  theirs. 
This  is  the  one  privilege  which  the  plain  common  people 
can  always  count  on. 
A.D.  Pepin  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Charles,  who  is  known 

fy/JQ 

to  history  and  romance  as  Charlemagne.  He  was  a  great 
man.  His  reign  affords  the  only  period  of  light  which  can 
be  found  in  the  Middle  Ages ;  before  him  were  centuries 
of  confusion,  of  darkness;  and  after  him  they  came 
again. 

Charlemagne  ruled  a  mighty  realm,  which  embraced 
Germany,  France,  part  of  Italy,  and  part  of  Spain.  He 
endeavoured  to  bring  into  harmony  and  cohesion  the  many 
nations  of  whom  his  empire  was  composed,  and  as  long 
as  he  lived,  he  succeeded;  when  he  died,  no  other  hand 
was  equal  to  the  task. 

A.D.  He  was  engaged  in  numerous  wars,  and  was  one  of  the 
774  greatest  of  conquerors.  He  pushed  back  the  Saracens  in 
Spain,  the  Avars  and  Huns  on  the  Danube,  and  com- 
pletely subdued  the  Saxons.  With  these  people  he  strug- 
gled for  thirty  years.  They  were  so  hardy,  so  independent, 
and  so  courageous  that  they  fought  till  they  were  almost 
exterminated.  He  had  4500  Saxon  prisoners  beheaded  in 
one  day. 

When  the  work  of  conquest  was  finally  accomplished, 


vi  SOCIAL  AND  POLITICAL  CONDITIONS  99 

and  the  spirit  of  resistance  broken,  he  compelled  the 
survivors  to  receive  Christian  baptism. 

He  adopted,  for  the  spread  of  the  religion  of  Christ,  the 
same  brutal  methods  used  by  the  followers  of  Mahomet  — 
fire  and  sword.  Thus  the  royal  Christian  acted  upon  the 
assumption  that  a  battle-field,  strewn  with  the  mangled, 
the  dying,  and  the  dead,  was  the  best  pulpit  from  which 
to  preach  the  gospel  of  "Thou  shalt  not  kill." 

The  Franks  had  once  prided  themselves  on  being  a  free 
people,  who  exercised  self-government.  Every  Frank  had 
formerly  a  right  to  attend  the  annual  assembly,  and  take 
part  in  its  discussions  and  its  decisions.  But  gradually 
the  large  landowners,  the  bishops,  and  the  kings  took 
charge  of  this  congress  of  the  free  people,  and  ran  it  to 
suit  themselves.  The  masses  had,  as  usual,  found  it  im- 
possible to  organize  themselves  to  resist  the  encroachment 
of  the  stronger  class. 

Hence  we  are  not  surprised  to  read  that  when  this  great 
assemblage  of  the  Franks  convened  annually,  in  the  time 
of  Charlemagne,  the  bishops  and  the  wealthy  nobles  would 
retire  to  legislative  halls,  built  for  the  purpose,  and  that 
doorkeepers  were  appointed  to  keep  the  common  folk  out. 

While  the  grandees  were  taking  counsel  as  to  the  laws 
which  they  most  desired,  the  king  would  saunter  round 
among  the  people,  asking  after  their  health,  and  inquiring 
for  the  latest  news  from  their  neighbourhoods.  When 
the  grandees  had  agreed  on  a  legislative  programme,  they 
reported  it  to  the  king,  and  if  it  seemed  good  in  his  sight, 
his  sanction  made  it  binding ;  otherwise  it  was  null  and 
void.  It  was  his  to  initiate  and  to  approve;  the  self- 
government  of  the  Franks  had  become  supplanted  by  an 
absolute  monarchy. 


100  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

In  these  days  there  were  no  taxes  in  France.  The  king 
and  his  nobles  and  the  Church  owned  all  the  land.  The 
people  who  owned  none  worked  for  those  who  did,  and  the 
landowner  left  the  labourer  barely  enough  to  live  on. 
Thus  the  king  was  supported  by  his  private  property. 
So  were  the  nobles.  There  was  no  system  of  taxation, 
because  the  mass  of  the  people  had  nothing  to  tax,  while 
the  grandees,  both  of  Church  and  State,  were  too  powerful 
to  submit  to  the  burden.  Occasionally  a  king  could  rob 
an  unpopular  noble  or  bishop,  and  thus  replenish  his 
purse,  but  constant  and  systematic  taxation  had  not  then 
been  devised. 

Dues  to  the  king  were  paid  by  service  in  his  army. 
When  the  lands  of  the  Gauls,  or  other  tribes,  were  seized 
by  the  invaders,  they  were  divided  among  the  victors, 
and  each  man  receiving  a  portion  of  the  land  thus  won, 
engaged  himself  to  help  defend  it. 

Upon  this  foundation  the  feudal  system  was  built,  and 
under  its  operation  the  kingdom  became  a  military  estab- 
lishment. There  were  certain  of  the  chiefs  who  had  re- 
ceived large  tracts  of  territory  from  the  monarch  himself, 
and  were  bound  to  serve  him  with  a  certain  number  of 
troops  in  war.  Then  each  of  these  chiefs  let  out  portions 
of  his  land  to  less  prominent  warriors,  who  were  to  serve 
the  chiefs  when  called  on,  just  as  the  chiefs  served  the 
king.  Thus  armed  bands  of  men  were  bound  to  each 
chief,  and  he  became  a  petty  king  himself.  About  the 
first  thing  he  did  was  to  build  him  a  strong  castle  in  which 
he  could  defend  himself  from  his  enemies,  and  from  which 
he  could  sally  forth  to  the  attack  of  his  neighbours. 

In  this  castle  he  kept  all  the  style  of  a  king.  In  his 
dominions  he  was  undisputed  master.  Life  and  liberty 


vi  SOCIAL  AND  POLITICAL  CONDITIONS  101 

were  subject  to  his  arbitrary  will ;  he  claimed  and  exer- 
cised the  right  to  coin  money,  to  make  laws,  and  to  wage 
war  on  his  private  enemies.  Such  a  system,  of  course, 
made  life  and  property  insecure.  If  a  commoner  had  a 
small  tract  of  his  own,  he  felt  powerless  among  these  con- 
tending nobles  and  would  surrender  his  land  to  them  in 
return  for  their  protection.  Thus  it  was  inevitable  that 
the  feudal  system  should  concentrate  into  the  hands  of  a 
few  petty  despots  all  the  lands  of  France.  These  favoured 
few  were,  of  course,  confined  to  the  victorious  Franks. 

When  these  Germans  first  conquered  the  country,  they 
held  it  to  be  the  fruit  of  their  common  courage  and  labour. 
Now,  however,  by  neat  shifts  of  law,  a  few  of  the  Franks 
possessed  what  all  had  won.  The  Gauls  and  the  weaker 
Franks  were  in  the  same  condition ;  neither  owned  any  of 
the  land. 

Charlemagne  was  a  tireless  worker,  and  was  of  simple, 
manly  habits.  His  moral  character  was  faulty,  but  in 
matters  of  form  he  set  a  good  example.  He  founded 
schools,  and  encouraged  learning.  He  himself  used  to 
study  in  one  of  these  schools,  after  he  had  passed  middle 
age.  He  learned  Latin  and  Greek,  but  never  was  able  to 
master  the  art  of  writing.  Very  few  people  in  these  days 
could  write  their  names.  He  was  fond  of  attending 
church,  and  used  to  lead  the  choir  in  singing. 

Charlemagne  was  a  devoted  friend  to  the  Church,  and 
in  all  his  wars  it  reaped  great  benefits.  He  appointed  the 
bishops  to  high  offices  in  the  State.  He  enlarged  the  privi- 
leges of  the  Church  so  as  to  free  it  from  the  royal  jurisdic- 
tion, and,  as  he  thoroughly  agreed  with  the  clericals  that 
the  repeal  of  the  Mosaic  Code  and  the  old  dispensation 
left  the  law  of  one  tenth  assessment  untouched,  he  estab- 


102  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

lished  tithes  all  over  the  kingdom.  Each  parishioner  was 
compelled  to  pay  them  to  his  Church,  and  they  were 
divided  into  three  parts ;  one  for  the  repair  and  ornamen- 
tation of  the  church  building,  one  for  the  poor  and  for 
strangers,  and  the  third  for  the  priests. 

As  his  father  had  done,  Charlemagne  made  war  upon 

the  Lombards  of  Italy,  at  the  instance  of  the  Pope,  and 

gave  to  the  Church  the  lands  he  thus  acquired.     In  return, 

the  Pope  bestowed  upon  the  king  the  title  of  Emperor  of 

the  Roman  Empire  of  the  West,  and  officially  consecrated 

A.D.    him  to  that  shadowy  office.     This  occurred  on  Christmas 

800    Day  of  the  year  800,  and  the  event  was,  politically,  of  vast 

importance.      It   marked  a   further  development  of  the 

papal  claim  to  fill  and  to  uufill  the  thrones  of  earthly 

kingdoms. 

Charlemagne,  however,  was  no  slave  of  the  priests.  He 
recognized  religion  as  a  great  fact,  and  used  it  wisely  for 
the  purposes  of  government.  He  made  himself  master  in 
Church  affairs  as  he  did  in  affairs  of  State,  and  even 
arrogated  to  himself  the  right  to  correct  the  Pope  in 
matters  of  dogma.  For  instance,  he  rebuked  the  Pope 
and  the  Empress  Irene  of  the  Eastern  Empire  for 
holding  that  images  should  be  allowed  in  Christian 
churches. 

In  his  simplicity  he  held  that  all  image  worship  was 
idolatry.  Calling  his  bishops  together,  in  794,  he  caused 
the  action  of  Pope  Hadrian  and  his  council  of  Nicsea  to  be 
condemned.  Not  content  with  this,  Charlemagne  firmly 
reminded  the  Pope  that  it  was  his  special  business  to  pray 
and  not  to  meddle  with  affairs  of  State.  This  preemi- 
nence which  the  emperor  asserted  is  still  further  shown  by 
the  fact  that  he  summoned  Pope  Leo  III.  to  appear  before 


vi  SOCIAL  AND  POLITICAL  CONDITIONS  103 

him,  and  clear  himself  of  certain  charges  which  had  been 
brought  against  him. 

The  fame  of  Charlemagne  spread  throughout  the  earth, 
and  his  friendship  was  sought  by  princes  far  and  near. 
The  Caliph  Haroun  Al  Raschid,  of  whom  we  read  in  the 
"Arabian  Nights,"  sent  him  an  embassy  and  costly  pres- 
ents,—  one  of  these  being  a  bronze  water-clock,  on  which 
the  hours  were  struck  by  golden  bells. 

Old  age,  however,  chilled  him,  as  it  does  the  meanest 
of  us  all ;  and  the  burden  of  the  years  brought  him  sorrow. 
His  favourite  sons  were  dead;  seeds  of  dissension  and  of 
internal  trouble  were  already  cropping  up;  the  roving 
bands  of  Danes  and  Normans  were  hovering  on  the  fron- 
tier, and  the  future  seemed  so  dark  to  the  aged  emperor 
that  he  thought  of  it  with  sadness,  and  spoke  of  it 
with  tears.  He  died  in  814,  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  There 
the  restless  warrior  and  tireless  civilizer  was  buried,  in  a 
sitting  posture,  as  though  on  a  throne ;  and  they  left  the 
crown  on  his  head,  the  sword  and  sceptre  by  his  side,  and 
a  shield  at  his  feet;  on  his  lap  lay  an  open  Bible,  and 
upon  it  rested  the  little  purse  in  which  he  had  carried 
alms-money  on  his  pilgrimages  to  Rome. 

As  soon  as  the  hands  of  the  great  emperor  were  taken 
from  it,  the  mighty  fabric,  which  they  had  upheld,  tottered. 
There  was  no  cohesion  among  the  different  kingdoms 
out  of  which  he  had  formed  his  empire ;  they  had  merely 
been  drawn  together  by  his  colossal  strength,  and  when 
he  died,  the  ill-joined  pieces  fell  apart.  His  reign 
had  been  a  constant  struggle  for  order,  and  his  death 
gave  rise  to  disorder  again.  His  work  had  been  to 
regenerate,  improve,  harmonize,  pacify,  and  Christianize; 
he  was  the  light  of  the  Middle  Ages.  He  died,  and 


104  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

all  was  dark  again  —  darker,  by  contrast,  than  it  had 
been  before. 

No  wonder  men's  thoughts  turned  back  to  him  in  after 
years.  No  wonder  they  turned  piteously  from  the  scenes 
of  blood  and  turmoil,  of  feeble  kings,  insolent  nobles,  and 
rapacious  priests,  and  looked  back,  reverently,  upon  the 
towering  figure  of  Charlemagne. 

Around  his  name,  legends  grew.  Romance  embellished 
his  mighty  deeds,  and  gave  immortal  fame  to  the  paladins 
who  had  stood  near  him.  Poets  chanted  his  triumphs; 
his  very  defeats  were  made  glorious  in  story  and  song. 
No  great  ruler  ever  waged  more  wars,  won  more  battles, 
or  died  more  victorious ;  yet  of  all  his  battles  we  know 
most  of  Roncesvalles  —  the  bloody  skirmish  wherein  the 
Basques  rushed  from  their  mountain  passes  and  cut  down 
his  rear-guard  in  the  Pyrenees.  The  poets  took  possession 
of  the  field,  and  have  held  it  ever  since,  consecrating  it 
to  the  memory  of  the  brave,  —  to  Roland  the  matchless, 
and  all  those  who,  beside  him,  died  for  honour  and  the 
king. 


A.D.  The  adage  that  mere  good  nature  is  only  a  fool  was 
814  never  illustrated  better  than  by  Louis  the  Handsome,  son 
and  successor  of  Charles  the  Great.  As  curate  of  some 
country  parish  he  would  have  been  the  ideal  Christian 
leader,  pure  in  heart,  gentle  in  speech,  holy  in  life,  con- 
ciliatory, charitable,  and  forgiving.  As  a  king  he  was 
one  of  the  most  conspicuous  failures  that  ever  wore  a 
crown. 

Before  he  had  got  the  reins  of  government  well  in  hand, 
he  began  to  act  the  part  of  a  reformer.     The  royal  palace 


vi  SOCIAL  AND  POLITICAL  CONDITIONS  105 

was  infested  with  a  number  of  concubines,  a  legacy  of 
Charlemagne,  who  sought  the  love  of  woman  after  the 
manner  of  David;  which  scandalized  his  pious  son.  Louis 
put  these  women  out  of  the  house ;  and,  at  the  same  time, 
gave  his  sisters  great  annoyance  by  expelling  the  lovers 
whom  they  had  installed  in  the  palace.  If  the  reformer 
had  paused  there,  all  would  have  been  well,  but  it  is  dif- 
ficult for  a  genuine  reformer  to  stop  when  once  he  gets  in 
motion.  There  are  so  many  things,  social,  religious,  and 
political,  which  the  reformer  fancies  he  could  improve, 
that  his  self-imposed  task  grows  upon  him. 

Louis  was  no  exception  to  the  rule,  and  he  soon  had 
many  reforms  on  foot.  He  punished  wrong-doing  in 
high  places,  destroyed  a  multitude  of  abuses,  curbed  the 
bishops,  and  required  the  clergy  to  conform  to  the  stern 
discipline  of  St.  Benedict.  In  this  manner  the  king  made 
himself  loved  mildly  by  the  people,  and  hated  fiercely  by 
the  nobles  and  the  bishops,  whom  he  had  crossed.  Be- 
sides, he  lowered  his  character  by  the  monkish  turn  which 
his  piety  assumed.  He  was  the  first  of  the  kings  who  fell 
down,  at  full  length,  on  the  ground,  in  presence  of  the 
Pope,  and  grovelled  in  the  dust  before  him.  It  made  his 
people  ashamed.  They  were  Catholics,  but  they  had  riot 
ceased  to  be  men ;  and  they  blushed  to  see  one  man  so 
abase  himself  before  another. 

In  the  hope  of  disarming  the  hostility  aroused  by  his  re- 
forms, Louis  made  lavish  donations  to  the  leading  mal- 
contents. Instead,  however,  of  disarming  his  enemies  by 
this  course,  he  disarmed  himself.  The  giving  away  of 
the  royal  domains  left  him  without  financial  resources; 
for  there  was  no  revenue  coming  to  him  except  from  his 
pwn  property.  Public  taxation  had  not  yet  been  imposed. 


106  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

A.D.        To  make  matters  worse,  Louis  divided  his  empire  with 
817'    his  sons.     His  nephew,  Bernard,  whom  Charlemagne  had 

olo 

made  king  of  Italy,  resented  this  division  as  unjust  to 
himself,  and  rebelled ;  Louis  gathered  a  large  army  and 
marched  against  him.  Bernard  saw  the  hopelessness  of 
the  struggle  and  gave  himself  up  to  his  uncle,  on  the  faith 
of  a  safe-conduct.  Louis,  weakly  listening  to  the  coun- 
sels of  his  wife,  who  coveted  Italy  for  her  sons,  violated 
his  pledge  to  Bernard  and  had  his  eyes  put  out,  from 
which  frightful  punishment  he  died  a  few  days  afterwards. 
A.D.  Louis  was  really  a  Christian,  and  he  suffered  such 
remorse  for  this  crime  that  he  did  public  penance  for  it, 
a  few  years  later,  prostrating  himself  at  the  feet  of  the 
bishops,  and  humbly  pleading  for  absolution  at  their 
hands.  This  extreme  act  of  humility  did  not  add  to  the 
prestige  of  the  well-meaning  king. 

No  longer  repressed  by  the  heavy  hand  of  Charles  the 
Great,  neighbouring  peoples  assailed  the  empire.  The 
Saracens,  the  Slavs,  the  Basques,  the  Bretons,  and  the  Nor- 
mans broke  into  the  provinces  adjacent  to  them  and  carried 
havoc  wherever  they  went;  but  Louis  acted  with  consider- 
able vigour,  and  succeeded  in  restoring  order  on  the 
frontiers. 

At  home,  however,  he  could  not  keep  peace;  and  his 
life  became  one  of  constant  warfare  with  his  sons. 

He  had  married  a  second  wife,  named  Judith,  and  by 
her  had  a  son  named  Charles.  Naturally,  he  wished  to 
make  provision  for  this  Benjamin  of  his  old  age,  but 
having  already  divided  the  empire  among  his  children  by 
the  first  marriage,  he  could  only  provide  for  Charles  by 
taking  back  a  portion  of  what  had  been  given  the  others. 
The  older  brothers  were  human  enough  to  object  to 


vi  SOCIAL  AND  POLITICAL  CONDITIONS  107 

the  proposition;  hence,  an  Iliad  of  woes  to  Louis,  and 
to  France. 

The  elder  sons  stirred  up  a  rebellion  against  their 
father;  and  all  the  people  who  had  been  irritated  by  his 
reforms  took  occasion  to  revenge  themselves.  The  com- 
bination against  the  good-natured  emperor  was  too  strong 
for  him,  and  he  surrendered  himself  to  his  sons.  They 
shut  Judith  up  in  a  convent,  left  Louis  in  charge  of  some 
monks,  and  Lothaire  seized  upon  the  government. 

He  soon  grew  odious  to  his  brothers  and  to  the  nobles    A.D. 
and  bishops.     A  conspiracy  was  formed  against  him,  a    83° 
national  assembly  convoked  at  Nimeguen,  and  Louis  was 
restored  to  his  throne. 

Influenced  by  his  wife  Judith,  Louis,  walked  straight- 
way into  fresh  trouble.  He  seized  upon  the  dominions 
of  his  son  Pepin,  and  gave  them  to  Charles. 

This  aroused  the  other  sons  of  the  first  marriage,  and    A.D. 
they   joined    forces    and    marched    against    their  father,     833 
accompanied  by  the  Pope.     A  bloody  struggle  seemed  at 
hand,  but  treachery  had  done  its  work,  and  the  pious 
king  found  himself  deserted  by  all  those  who  had  come 
out  to  fight  for  him.     Again  he  was  made  captive.     With 
great  expressiveness,  the  field  where  this  colossal  perfidy 
took  place  was  called  the  field  of  lies. 

The  son  Lothaire  subjected  the  father,  Louis,  to  a  mem- 
orable humiliation.  The  captive  emperor  was  brought 
before  an  immense  crowd  in  the  cathedral  of  Soissons,  and 
there  he  knelt,  pale  and  trembling,  at  the  feet  of  the 
bishops.  A  cloth  of  horsehair  was  spread  at  the  foot  of 
the  altar,  and  the  bishop  commanded  the  sovereign  to  lay 
aside  the  sceptre,  robe,  and  crown,  and  to  prostrate  him- 
self upon  the  horsehair  cloth.  Louis  obeyed.  With  his 


108  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

face  bowed  to  the  ground,  he  read  aloud  a  paper  in  which 
he  was  made  to  accuse  himself  of  sacrilege  and  murder. 

Lothaire  witnessed  it  all  and  gloated  over  his  father's 
shame.  The  unnatural  son  then  led  his  father  away  into 
captivity  in  Germany.  An  assembly  of  nobles  and  priests 
formally  declared  Louis  deposed,  and  Lothaire  emperor. 
V.D.  The  other  two  sons  of  Louis  by  his  first  marriage,  Pepin 
834  and  Louis,  became  jealous  of  their  brother  Lothaire,  sus- 
pecting that  he  was  growing  too  great,  and  might  take  a 
fancy  to  imprison  brothers  as  well  as  father.  They  rose 
against  him,  and  the  people,  pitying  the  good  King  Louis, 
rallied  to  their  support.  A  national  assembly  met  at 
Thionville,  annulled  the  acts  of  the  former  assembly,  and 
declared  Louis  restored  to  his  title  and  his  power.  Thus 
a  second  time  he  resumed  his  crown. 

A.D.        But  he  could  not  keep  out  of  trouble.     In  838  he  par- 

838    tially  disinherited  his  elder   sons  in  favour  of   Charles, 

his  son  by  Judith,  and  again  the  family  feud  flamed  into 

open  war.     His  son  Louis  revolted,  and  the  Saxons  and 

Thuringians  came  to  his  support. 

A.D.        The  emperor,  now  old  and  infirm,  was  marching  against 
840    his  son,  when  death  halted  him.     "Alas,"  said  he  in  his 
dying  moments,  "  I  forgive  my  son ;  but  let  him  remember 
that  he  has  slain  his  father,  and  that  God  punishes  parri- 
cides." 

Lothaire  had  taken  no  part  in  this  last  war,  for  the 
reason  that  he  and  his  father  had  come  to  amicable  terms, 
and  Pepin  was  dead. 

For  ten  years  after  the  death  of  Louis  the  Handsome 
there  was  chaos.  The  heirs  at  law  furiously  fought  over 
the  inheritance.  Lothaire,  Louis,  and  Charles,  sons  of 
the  late  emperor,  and  his  grandson  Pepin,  levied  troops 


vi  SOCIAL  AND  POLITICAL  CONDITIONS  109 

throughout  the  empire  and  fell  upon  each  with  savage 
ferocity.  Thousands  of  herdsmen,  of  farmers,  and  of 
workmen  in  the  towns  were  pulled  away  from  their  busi- 
ness and  their  homes,  to  fight  out  the  disputes  of  these 
royal  wranglers.  At  one  tremendous  battle,  fought  near 
Fontenay,  between  the  sons  of  Louis,  it  is  said  that 
300,000  men  were  engaged,  and  that  100,000  were  left  A.D. 
dead  upon  the  field. 

One  hundred  thousand  homes  were  made  desolate  on 
that  dreadful  day  at  Fontenay.  One  hundred  thousand 
wives  and  mothers  and  daughters  looked  vainly  through 
tear-dimmed  eyes  for  the  return  of  the  soldier  who  would 
never  come  again, —  for  the  victim  who  had  been  dragged 
from  field  and  fireside  to  shed  his  blood  in  a  quarrel  that 
had  no  earthly  interest  for  him. 

Did  either  of  these  greedy  and  jealous  brothers  get 
killed?  By  no  means.  They  rode  away  from  the  battle- 
field without  having  received  a  scratch,  leaving  the  plains 
so  covered  with  the  dead  and  the  dying  that  even  a  rough 
old  officer  who  took  part  in  it  wrote :  "  Accursed  be  this 
day!  Eye  ne'er  hath  seen  more  fearful  slaughter;  in 
streams  of  blood  fell  Christian  men ;  and  the  linen  vest- 
ments of  the  dead  did  whiten  the  plain  even  as  it  is 
whitened  by  the  birds  of  autumn." 

In  this  battle  Lothaire  was  defeated,  but  not  crushed.    A.D. 
He  raised  other  forces  and  continued  the  war;  but  in  843    843 
the  brothers  agreed  to  come  to  a  friendly  division,  and 
this  was  done  by  the  Treaty  of  Verdun.     To  Louis  fell 
Germany,  to  Lothaire  Italy  and  the  Low  Countries,  to 
Charles  fell  France,  and  thus  the  hopes  of  Judith  and 
Louis    the    Handsome   were    at   length    realized.      The 
youngest  child  had  got  a  kingdom  at  the  cost  of  years 


110  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

of  war,  millions  of  property  destroyed,  and  a  million  of 
men  butchered  in  battle. 

During  this  long  period  of  civil  war,  the  utmost  misery 
prevailed  among  the  people.  They  were  not  only  over- 
run by  the  contending  forces  of  the  brothers,  but  foreign 
foes  appeared  on  all  sides.  The  Saracens  ravaged  the 
south;  the  Normans  came  up  the  Seine  in  300  boats  and 
pillaged  Paris  itself,  sacking  the  undefended  towns  and 
driving  the  people  before  them  into  captivity. 

The  nobles  and  priests  increased  their  power  and  wealth 
under  the  weak  King  Charles,  surnamed  the  Bald,  and 
they  wrung  from  him  the  celebrated  edict  of  Kiersey, 
wherein  he  recognized  the  hereditary  character  of  their 
titles  to  their  provinces.  From  this  period  dates  the 
supremacy  of  the  feudal  nobility  over  the  central  authority 
of  the  king. 

A.D.        To  Charles  the  Bald  succeeded  Louis  the  Stammerer, 

877    and    several    other   imbeciles,    one   after  another,    until 

Charles  the  Fat  comes  to  break  the  chain  of  succession. 

Too  feeble  to  govern  his  kingdom,  the  nobles  governed 

and  misgoverned  it.     Too  cowardly  to  defend  his  capital 

from  the  Normans,  the  glory  of  the  task  fell  upon  Count 

Eudes.     Not  daring  to  fight  the  invaders,  he  bought  them 

off  with  700  pounds  of  silver,  and  by  conceding  to  them 

A.D.    the  privilege  of  plundering  Burgundy.     Outraged  at  this 

887    baseness,  the  national  assembly  met  and  deposed  him  in 

887. 

This  wretched  descendant  of  Charlemagne  lost  all  — 
empire,  wealth,  friends,  family  —  and  was  indebted  to  the 
charity  of  the  bishop  of  Mayence  for  the  necessaries  of  life. 

One  of  his  nephews,  Arnold,  had  been  chosen  emperor, 
and  to  this  nephew  the  disgraced  Charles  addressed  a 


vi  SOCIAL  AND  POLITICAL  CONDITIONS  111 

piteous  appeal  for  relief.  The  prayer  was  heard,  and  the 
old  man  was  given  a  small  pension.  He  died  in  888  — 
assassinated,  according  to  some  authorities. 

Count  Eudes,  elected  king  of  France,  was  recognized 
by  the  Emperor  Arnold.  He  resisted  the  Norman  in- 
vaders with  great  courage,  and  maintained  himself  suc- 
cessfully against  the  pretensions  of  Charles  the  Simple,  a 
Carolingian,  who  was  a  direct  descendant  of  Charlemagne. 

Eudes,  who  died  in  898,  was  not  succeeded  by  his  son,    A.D. 

QQQ 

but    by  Charles    the  Simple,   the  Carolingian  who  has 
already  been  mentioned.     His   reign  was  not  glorious, 
but  he  happened,  •  providentially  it  would  seem,  upon  a 
wise  settlement  with  the  Normans.      He  ceded  to  them    A.D. 
the  province  called,  from  them,  Normandy,  and  thus  con-    912 
verted  assailants  of  the  kingdom  into  defenders. 

The  difference  between  northern  ideas  of  personal  inde- 
pendence, and  the  courtly  servility  which  had  grown  up 
in  France,  was  curiously  illustrated  when  Hollo,  chief  of 
the  Normans,  came  to  do  homage  to  Charles  the  Simple 
for  the  fief  of  Normandy.  Court  etiquette  and  feudal 
usage  required  that  Hollo  should  kiss  Charles'  foot;  but 
he  scornfully  refused.  "My  knee  shall  never  bend  to 
mortal ;  and  I  will  not,  on  any  account,  be  persuaded  to 
kiss  the  foot  of  any  one  whatever !  " 

So  Rollo  thus  defies  slavish  custom,  standing  upon  the 
pride  of  a  man.  Feudal  law  being  quite  inexorable  on 
the  subject,  the  French  courtiers,  an  ever-ingenious  race, 
suggest  that  Rollo  do  the  kissing  by  deputy.  It  is 
thought  that  one  of  the  common  soldiers  of  the  Norman 
band  will  answer  quite  as  well  as  Rollo.  Whereupon, 
one  of  the  soldiers  present  is  told  to  kiss  the  king's  foot. 
Instead  of  kneeling  humbly,  and  laying  a  gentle  kiss 


112  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP,  vi 

upon  the  shoe  as  was  expected,  the  soldier  roughly  caught 
hold  of  Charles'  foot,  jerked  it  up  to  his  mouth,  tilting 
the  monarch  backward,  and  coming  very  near  to  throwing 
him  down ;  thus  exposing  ceremony  and  monarch  to  just 
contempt. 

A.D.        The  last  years  of  Charles  the  Simple  were  spent  in  cap- 
929    tivity,  Herbert  of  Vermandois,  one  of  the  feudal  lords, 
having  made  successful  war  on  him.     He  was  murdered 
by  his  captor  in  the  castle  of  Pe*ronne. 

Great  disorders  then  prevailed,  and  almost  constant 
civil  war,  between  rival  claimants  of  the  crown.  As  it 
is  utterly  useless  to  follow  all  of  these  feuds,  or  to 
enumerate  the  several  shadow-kings  of  this  wretched 
period,  I  will  merely  say  that  the  line  of  Charles  the 
Great  ended  with  Louis  V.,  the  Do-nothing. 

At  his  death  (987)  the  archbishop  of  Rheims  conse- 
crated Hugh  Capet  king.  A  majority  of  the  nobles, 
clerical  and  lay,  sanctioned  the  change,  and  thus  a  new 
dynasty  was  enthroned. 

The  people  may  possibly  have,  also,  approved  the 
change.  We  do  not  know.  They  were  not  consulted. 
All  democratic  principle  had  long  been  suppressed,  and 
the  right  of  the  Church  and  of  the  nobles  to  select  rulers 
of  the  people  had  been  fully  established  in  these  darkest 
of  the  Dark  Ages. 


CHAPTER   VII 

THE  CAPETIAN   KINGS 

HUGH   CAPET;    ROBERT   THE   WISE;    PHILIP   THE  FAT;    BEGINNING  OF 
THE  DARK   AGES 

TTUGH  CAPET'S  reign  did  little  more  than  keep  alive    A.D, 
the  tradition  of  monarchy,  as  he  was  merely  a  power-    887 
ful  feudal  chief  among  others  of  almost  equal  power.     He    996 
exerted  no  general  control,  and  the  central  authority  was 
disregarded.     His  barons  waged  war  upon  each  other  con- 
stantly, made  their  own  laws,  coined  their  own  money, 
and  exercised  the  power  of  life  and  death  over  their  sub- 
jects. 

"Who  made  thee  a  count?"  asked  Hugh  Capet  of  the 
Count  of  Pe"rigord,  when  the  nobleman  claimed  and  exer- 
cised the  right  of  levying  war  against  a  neighbouring 
lord. 

"Who  made  thee  a  king?"  was  the  insolent  reply;  and 
the  war  went  on  in  defiance  of  royal  authority. 

It  was  a  far  cry  from  this  state  of  things  to  that  other 
extreme,  in  which  Louis  XIV.,  the  descendant  of  Hugh, 
could  truthfully  say  "The  State?  That  is  I."  The  one 
was  the  beginning;  the  other  the  end. 

Pestilence  raged  among  the  people  during  Hugh's 
reign,  and  added  its  horrors  to  those  of  poverty,  igno- 
rance, superstition,  and  civil  war.  The  end  of  the  world 
was  foretold,  and  the  misery  of  the  times  was  so  great 

i  113 


114  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

that  many  looked  forward  with  hope,  rather  than  fear,  to 
the  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy. 

The  king  was  a  faithful  slave  of  the  priests,  and  he 
himself  constantly  wore  the  robes  of  his  holy  office  as 
abbot  of  St.  Martin  of  Tours. 

On  his  death-bed,  Hugh  enjoined  it  upon  his  son,  as 
the  most  important  of  all  things,  to  guard  the  wealth  of 
the  abbeys,  to  court  the  favour  of  the  priests,  and  to 
submit  himself  unreservedly  to  the  Pope. 

A.D.  Robert  the  Wise,  who  had  been  crowned  during  his 
1031  father's  lifetime,  succeeded  him,  and  reigned  for  twenty- 
nine  years.  He  was  pious,  benevolent,  and  prudent, 
watching  over  his  kingdom  with  fatherly  care,  and 
doing  his  utmost  to  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  the  times. 
He  was  not  a  great  man,  and  his  position  was  far  from 
strong;  on  his  own  feudal  domains  he  was  lord,  but  he 
was  not  able  to  exercise  control  beyond  them.  No  reve- 
nues came  to  him,  excepting  those  of  his  own  property; 
his  laws,  his  judges,  his  authority,  did  not  prevail  in  the 
territories  of  the  other  feudal  chiefs.  Consequently,  we 
find  the  good  King  Robert  living  in  a  rather  unkingly 
state :  he  composes  hymns,  chants  in  the  choir,  prays  with 
fervour  and  perseverance,  builds  churches  and  convents, 
and  feeds  the  poor. 

In  spite  of  his  orthodox  piety,  he  embroiled  himself 
with  the  Pope.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  his  meekness  and 
devout  servility  gave  the  Pope  such  an  opportunity  to 
impose  on  it  that  the  temptation  was  irresistible. 

Hugh  Capet  had  caused  Robert  to  marry  Bertha,  widow 
of  a  Norman  noble,  a  princess  who  held  a  claim  to  the 
kingdom  of  Burgundy.  The  match  was  beneficial  to 
France,  for  it  quieted  Norman  jealousies  and  secured 


vii  THE   CAPETIAN  KINGS  116 

Burgundy.  But  Otho  III.,  of  Germany,  alarmed  at  the 
extension  of  French  influence,  appealed  to  the  Pope,  and, 
upon  the  pretext  that  Bertha  was  distantly  related  to 
Robert,  the  Pope,  Gregory  V.,  commanded  the  king  of 
France  to  repudiate  his  wife. 

Robert  seems  to  have  loved  Bertha,  and  though  he 
was  the  humblest  of  men,  he  resented  the  papal  inter- 
ference. 

Gregory  launched  against  the  loyal  husband  the  anath- 
ema of  Rome,  pronounced  him  excommunicated,  and  laid 
France  under  an  interdict. 

Papal  thunders  were  terrible  things  in  those  days,  just 
as  Druid  interdicts  had  been  in  the  days  of  the  Druids ; 
—  just  as  the  pagan  prohibition  from  fire  and  water  had 
meant  isolation  and  death  in  the  days  of  paganism.  To 
the  excommunicated,  the  world  grew  suddenly  dark.  A 
chill  and  a  desolation  fell  upon  him,  and  he  was  an 
outcast,  shunned  by  all. 

No  Christian  could  eat,  drink,  or  pray  with  him.  He 
lost  all  social  support,  servants  would  not  serve  him, 
friends  would  not  be  seen  with  him,  no  door  opened  to 
his  knock,  no  eye  gazed  upon  him  with  pity  or  with  love. 
The  whole  kingdom  being  under  the  interdict,  no  subject 
would  honour  the  king;  he  was  abhorred  as  though  he 
were  a  leper  and  came  crying  "Unclean,  unclean." 

Divine  service  ceased;  the  sacraments  could  not  be 
administered  to  the  living,  nor  burial  in  consecrated 
ground  given  to  the  dead.  The  bells  hung  voiceless  in 
the  churches,  the  sweet  face  of  the  Madonna  on  the  wall 
was  covered  from  impious  eyes ;  the  images  of  the  saints 
were  taken  down  and  laid  upon  beds  of  ashes  and  thorns. 
The  very  light  of  the  sun  seemed  to  grow  dim  to  the 


116  THE   STORY  OF  TRANCE  CHAP. 

kingdom  laid  under  the  ban ;  people  crept  about,  silently, 
with  bent  heads,  and  over  all  the  sunny  realm  fell  a  shadow 
and  a  fear. 

Such  was  the  calamity  which  now  appalled  France  — 
all  because  Robert  had  contracted  a  marriage  which  aroused 
a  political  jealousy  of  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  whose 
devoted  friend  the  then  Pope  chanced  to  be. 

The  subjects  of  Robert  knew  only  the  facts,  they  did 
not  know  the  motives.  The  masses  rarely  do.  Published 
pretences  are  seldom  the  real  motives ;  but  the  masses  do 
not  know  it  till  long  afterwards :  and  thus  the  time-worn 
game  of  political  imposture  is  fresh  from  age  to  age. 

Robert  the  Wise,  forsaken  by  his  friends,  deserted  by 
his  servants,  shunned  by  the  very  beggars  his  bounty  had 
fed  at  his  door,  was  driven  into  submission,  and  the 
loved  and  loving  wife  was  put  away. 

Then  the  sun  shone  out  again ;  loyal  hearts  warmed  to 
the  repentant  king;  servants  reappeared,  and  so  did  the 
beggars  who  ate  at  the  palace  each  day.  The  saints  were 
lifted  and  the  ashes  carefully  brushed  off.  The  sweet  face 
of  the  Madonna  dropped  its  veil.  The  bells  found  their 
lost  melody,  and  pealed  forth  a  universal  Te  Deum. 

Thank  God!  cried  a  great  nation  in  one  voice.  The 
cloud  has  passed  —  from  all  but  Bertha,  the  deserted  wife. 
Her  poor  eyes  will  weep  in  some  convent  cell,  and  the 
world  will  soon  forget.  She  was  a  queen,  free  from  fault, 
a  wife  without  sin,  but  the  Pope  —  successor  to  the  Christ 
who  had  lifted  the  Magdalen  out  of  the  dust  —  struck  the 
light  from  her  life,  at  the  bidding  of  a  German  king. 

Robert  married  again,  and  his  new  wife,  Constance, 
brought  vexation  to  him,  and  strife  to  the  kingdom.  She 
ruled  king  and  kingdom,  and  did  it  badly.  She  inaugu- 


vn  THE   CAPETIAN  KINGS  117 

rated  religious  feuds,  by  persecuting  citizens  accused  of 
heresy.  Twelve  of  these  she  caused  to  be  condemned  and 
burnt  —  the  first  thing  of  the  kind  that  had  yet  happened 
among  Christians. 

One  of  the  victims  had  been  in  former  years  her  con- 
fessor. On  the  day  of  the  execution,  Constance  stationed 
herself  on  the  line  of  march  of  the  condemned,  and,  as  the 
old  priest  passed  her,  the  wicked  queen  struck  out  one  of 
his  eyes  with  a  stick. 

This  imperious  woman  stirred  up  civil  war  by  inciting 
her  sons  to  rebel  against  her  husband,  and  the  kingdom 
was  rent  by  these  feuds. 

Robert  the  Wise  was  gathered  to  his  fathers  and  was    A.D. 
succeeded  by  his  son  Henry  I.     Again  Constance  caused   1031 
civil  war   by   the   attempt  to   seize   the   crown   for  her 
younger  son,  Robert. 

The  Duke  of  Normandy,  Robert  the  Magnificent,  came 
to  the  relief  of  the  king  and  the  rebellion  was  put  down. 
Henry,  however,  gave  to  his  brother  the  government  of 
Burgundy,  and  thus  secured  peace. 

Henry  I.  was  succeeded  by  Philip.     This  king  grew    A.D. 
jealous  of  the  power  of  the  Norman  dukes,  and  endeav-   106° 
oured  to  reduce  it.     William  the  Bastard,  son  of  Robert 
the  Magnificent,  defeated  his  king  at  the  battle  of  Mor- 
temer,  and  was  more  powerful  than  ever  —  soon  to  be 
known  as  William  the  Conqueror,  king  of  Great  Britain. 

Philip  was  a  scandalous  person,  and  lived  very  much  as 
he  pleased,  practising,  as  well  as  a  Christian  could,  the 
pagan  precepts,  "  Eat,  drink,  and  be  merry,  for  to-morrow 
we  die." 

He  had  married  Bertha,  a  princess  of  Holland,  but  he 
got  tired  of  her,  and  closed  her  up  in  a  convent.  He  then 


118  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

took  to  wife  Bertrade,  Countess  of  Anjou,  whose  husband, 
Fulk  the  Morose,  made  a  great  noise  about  it  —  so  much 
so,  indeed,  that  the  Pope  commanded  Philip  to  send  the 
lady  back  to  Fulk. 

Philip  refused,  and  for  twelve  years  there  was  strife 
between  him  and  the  Pope. 

A.D.        In  the  year  1094,  Philip  was  excommunicated;  but  he 
1094   ^j^  noj.  immediately  yield,  as  Robert  the  Wise  had  done 
in  a  much  juster  cause.     The  royal  resistance  continued, 
and  finally  a  compromise  was  reached. 

The  king  came  barefooted  into  an  assembly  of  bishops, 
laid  his  hand  upon  the  Gospels,  and  took  an  oath  to  have 
nothing  further  to  do  with  his  new  wife,  Bertrade. 

The  latter  took  a  similar  oath. 

Then  they  continued  to  live  together,  just  as  they  had 
done  for  twelve  years,  and  no  more  was  said  about  it. 
The  Church  was  satisfied  because  it  secured  a  formal  sub- 
mission. The  king  was  satisfied  because  he  retained  the 
woman. 

The  queerest  part  of  the  whole  proceeding,  illustrating 
vividly  the  morals  of  the  times,  is  that  Bertrade  brought 
about  friendly  relations  between  both  her  husbands,  and 
was  herself  on  substantially  the  same  terms  with  both. 

Philip  got  very  much  ashamed  of  his  sins,  after  he  had 
lost  the  power  to  enjoy  them,  and  gave  the  feeble  remnant 
of  his  life  to  repentance. 

A.D.        Philip  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Louis  the  Fat.     This 
1108   was  in  the  year  1108. 

The  long  period  of  time  stretching  from  the  death  of 
Charlemagne  to  the  reign  of  Louis  the  Fat  is  known  in 
history  as  the  Dark  Ages.  They  are  so  called  because 
anarchy  prevailed  —  anarchy  in  which  men  groped  in 


vii  THE    CAPETIAN   KINGS  119 

mental  darkness,  and  fell  back  into  lawlessness,  disor- 
ganization, superstition,  and  crime.  It  was  a  period  in 
which  robbers  infested  highways,  assassins  lurked  at 
street  corners,  barons  fought  barons,  princes  warred  over 
the  succession,  agriculture  shrunk  to  the  narrowest 
limits,  and  pestilence  and  famine  wasted  the  war-worn 
land. 

It  was  a  time  when  there  were  no  schools  for  the  laity, 
no  books  for  them,  no  elevating  instruction  of  any  kind. 
There  was  a  great  university  at  Paris,  but  it  was  mainly 
scientific  and  theological.  Scholars,  trained  therein,  came 
forth  to  talk  to  one  another  about  Aristotle  and  Plato ;  or 
about  predestination,  free  will,  and  transubstantiation. 
For  the  masses  of  the  people,  literary  entertainment  was 
not  such  as  to  edify.  They  were  told  of  miracles  and 
enchantments;  of  dragons  and  magicians;  of  wicked 
giants  slain  by  Christian  knights  in  spite  of  the  most 
painful  discrepancies  of  size  and  strength.  The  lives  of 
saints  and  martyrs,  overlaid  with  monstrous  and  sacri- 
legious extravagances,  formed  the  most  popular  narratives 
of  the  time ;  and  the  history  of  such  men  as  Charlemagne, 
Clovis,  and  Constantine  assumed  all  the  fabulous  glory 
that  imaginative  monks,  of  limited  creative  faculties, 
could  invent.  Divine  aid,  given  by  word  and  deed  and 
sign,  was  theirs  whenever  needed;  and  the  curtains  of 
hell  were  constantly  being  rolled  back  to  exhibit  to 
the  gaping  multitude  the  sight  of  the  eternal  torments 
of  those  who  had  displeased  the  Church. 

Witches  were  believed  in,  and  spells,  sorceries,  mira- 
cles, and  prophecies.  In  the  "Chronicle  of  Turpin,"  the 
people  were  told  that  Charlemagne  invaded  Spain  at 
the  direct  instance  of  James,  the  brother  of  John  the 


120  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Evangelist;  and  that  the  walls  of  Pamplona,  resisting 
carnal  weapons,  fell  at  once  when  prayers  were  offered. 
Fenacute,  the  giant,  makes  a  vain  attempt  to  stay  the 
progress  of  orthodox  arms.  He  is  a  pagan,  with  the 
strength  of  forty  men,  his  total  height  twenty  cubits  or 
about  thirty  feet.  Twenty  men  were  sent  against  this 
monster,  by  Charlemagne;  but  Fenacute  took  them  up 
under  his  arms  and  carried  them  off  home  with  him. 
Charlemagne  is  astonished.  The  entire  Christian  army 
is  astonished.  But  Orlando,  or  Roland,  comes  to  the 
rescue,  challenges  Fenacute,  and  in  the  midst  of  the 
fight  assails  him  with  a  proposition  in  theology.  The 
foolish  giant  quits  fighting,  and  tries  to  unravel  Orlando's 
argument.  Being  a  mere  pagan,  he  of  course  is  unequal 
to  the  task,  and  while  he  is  in  this  state  of  mental  help- 
lessness Roland  slays  him. 

Thus  everything  went  well  with  kings  who  were  or- 
thodox. With  heretical  kings,  times  were  sorrowful. 
Horrid  sea-monsters  would  sometimes  devour  them,  and, 
at  others,  blood  would  rain  for  three  days  at  a  stretch  in 
their  dominions.  Their  wives  gave  birth  to  monsters, 
their  lives  were  full  of  terrors,  and  their  souls  sank  into 
a  flaming  hell. 

The  pagan  and  savage  conception  of  Deity  prevailed. 
The  infinitely  pure  and  lofty  religion  of  Christ  Jesus  was 
degraded.  The  idea  that  money  could  buy  forgiveness  of 
sins  corrupted  society  to  the  core.  No  such  idea  lives  in 
the  teaching  of  our  Saviour.  It  came  from  older  and 
grosser  religions. 

Just  as  paganism  defiled  Christianity  with  heathen  rites 
and  ceremonies,  so  it  degraded  it  by  the  superstition  that 
sin  could  be  paid  off  with  money  or  land  or  chattels. 


TII  THE   CAPETIAN   KINGS  121 

To  this  doctrine,  let  loose  in  a  lawless  period,  is  due 
much  of  the  crime  which  stained  the  record  of  the  Dark 
Ages. 

Eligius,  an  orthodox  writer  and  saint  of  the  seventh 
century,  mentions  the  several  virtues  which  should  dis- 
tinguish a  Christian,  and  adds :  — 

"  He  is  a  good  Christian  who  comes  frequently  to  church ; 
who  presents  gifts  that  may  be  presented  to  God;  who 
does  not  taste  the  fruits  of  the  land  till  he  has  consecrated 
a  part  of  them  to  God ;  who  can  repeat  the  Creed,  or  the 
Lord's  Prayer.  Redeem  your  souls  from  punishment, 
offer  presents  and  tithes  to  the  Church ;  light  candles  in 
holy  places,  implore  the  protection  of  the  saints;  for  if 
you  do  these  things  you  may  come  with  safety  to  the  day 
of  judgment  and  say,  'Give  unto  us,  Lord,  for  we  have 
given  unto  thee. ' ' 

This  was  religion's  central  thought  in  the  Dark  Ages  — 
"Give  to  the  Lord,"  meaning  the  priests,  "and  the  Lord 
will  pay  you  back  in  the  day  of  judgment. " 

The  clergy  had  constantly  preached  that  the  world  was 
coming  to  an  end  in  the  year  1000.  Consequently  when 
the  year  900  was  passed,  the  minds  of  men  became  fixed 
upon  the  awful  event  which  was  so  confidently  predicted. 
As  the  century  waned  and  the  fatal  year  1000  grew  nearer, 
the  fountains  of  the  great  deep  of  human  society  were 
broken  up.  People  grew  timid  and  alarmed.  They 
could  see  dreadful  signs  in  the  heavens.  Wherever  they 
looked,  their  frightened  senses  perceived  evidences  of  the 
world's  death.  The  churches  were  crowded  with  eager 
worshippers,  confessing  their  sins  and  doing  penance. 
Many  of  the  terror-stricken  landowners  gave  up  all  they 
possessed  to  the  Church,  and  hurried  away  on  pious  pil- 


122  THE    STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

grimages  to  Jerusalem.  The  crops  were  not  even  planted, 
for  the  people  thought  no  one  would  be  alive  next  year  to 
reap  them.  When  the  dreadful  year  1000  had  passed,  men 
breathed  again  with  the  unspeakable  joy  of  a  new  lease 
of  life.  They  were  so  delighted  that  instead  of  reclaim- 
ing the  property  already  bestowed  on  the  Church,  the 
donations  became  more  splendid  than  ever. 

As  a  companion  piece  of  the  ignorance  and  superstition 
just  described,  the  historians  tell  us  of  an  instance  when 
two  great  armies  were  on  the  march  to  meet  each  other  on 
the  battle-field,  and  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  occurred.  The 
whole  multitude  of  warriors  were  so  completely  demoral- 
ized that  the  armies  disbanded. 

Famine,  war,  and  pestilence  were  making  such  havoc 
in  the  land  that  the  Church  and  the  king  united  on  the 
following  remarkable  reform :  — 

A.D.  "  The  Truce  of  God  "  was  solemnly  proclaimed  by  the 
1035  pOpe?  an(j  supported  by  the  state  authorities.  By  its  terms 
all  fighting  from  Wednesday  evening  to  Monday  morning 
was  to  cease.  It  was  also  enjoined  that  the  crimes  against 
women  should  cease;  that  labourers  in  the  fields  must  not 
be  attacked  and  must  not  be  robbed  or  beaten  or  carried 
off  to  the  wars,  as  had  been  customary  up  to  that  time. 

How  much  "The  Truce  of  God"  was  observed,  it  is 
hard  to  say;  but  it  is  a  tremendous  proof  of  the  wildness 
of  the  times  that  the  attempt  to  stay  the  hand  of  murder 
and  rapine  half  the  week  was  considered  the  best  that 
could  be  hoped. 

In  several  of  the  counties  of  Normandy,  the  peasants, 
maddened  by  oppression,  rose  in  masses,  and  elected  dele- 
gates to  meet  at  some  central  point  and  frame  better  laws. 
The  feudal  chief,  Duke  Richard,  sent  his  soldiers  promptly 


vn  THE   CAPETIAN   KINGS  123 

against  these  unfortunate  men  and  dispersed  them.  The 
deputies  whom  they  had  elected  were  arrested,  their  feet 
and  hands  were  cut  off,  and  thus  mutilated,  they  were  sent 
home  as  an  object  lesson  to  their  comrades.  The  peasants 
gave  up  their  design  and  returned  to  their  ploughs. 

An  honest  writer  many  years  afterwards  gave  the  fol- 
lowing statement  of  their  grievances:  "The  lords, "said 
they,  "do  us  naught  but  ill.  'With  them  we  have  neither 
gain  nor  profit  for  our  labours.  Every  day  is,  for  us,  a 
day  of  suffering,  of  toil  and  weariness.  Every  day  we 
have  our  cattle  taken  from  us  for  road  work  and  forced 
service.  We  have  plaints  and  grievances,  old  and  new 
exactions,  pleas  and  processes  without  end, —  money  pleas, 
market  pleas,  road  pleas,  forest  pleas,  mill  pleas,  black- 
mail pleas,  watch-and-ward  pleas.  There  are  so  many 
provosts,  bailiffs,  and  sergeants  that  we  have  not  one 
hour's  peace.  Day  by  day  they  run  us  down,  seize  our 
movables,  and  drive  us  from  our  lands.  There  is  no 
security  for  us  against  the  lords.  Why  suffer  we  all  this 
evil  ?  Are  we  not  men  even  as  they  are  ?  " 

Such  were  the  grievances  900  years  ago.  "  Why  suffer 
these  evils?  Are  we  not  men  even  as  they  are?" 

Strangely  familiar  are  these  questions ;  strangely  famil- 
iar those  grievances. 

Assembling  themselves  together  in  peaceful  fashion 
those  oppressed  peasants  had  stated  their  complaints,  and 
had  chosen  delegates  to  represent  them.  This  was  a  very 
high  crime  —  thought  the  nobles. 

Down  comes  the  mailed  hand  of  the  feudal  lord  on  the 
uncovered  rustic  head.  "  Get  you  back  to  your  kennels, 
dogs  that  you  are !  " 

So  orders  the  man  clad  in  steel  armour,  having  sword 


124  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP,  vn 

in  hand.  The  other  man  —  equally  the  son  of  Adam  and 
of  God  —  must  needs  obey,  for  he  has  naught  round  his 
body  but  rags,  and  in  his  clumsy,  toil-stiffened  hands  is 
naught  but  a  club,  or  a  stone. 

So  they  go  back  to  their  ploughs.  All  but  the  delegates. 
They  plough  no  more  henceforth  and  forever.  Let  the 
stricken  wife  and  daughter  bring  strips  of  coarse  cloth, 
and  bind  up  the  bleeding  stumps  of  arms  and  legs,  as  best 
they  may.  Those  men  will  plough  no  more. 

They  wanted  justice.  They  asked  for  the  right  to  live 
on  some  terms  that  made  existence  tolerable.  They  dared 
to  dream  of  drawing  the  line  between  themselves  and  the 
dumb,  soulless  cattle.  They  sought  to  lay  their  falter- 
ing hands  upon  the  sacred  vessel  of  the  brotherhood  and 
equality  of  man. 

Such  were  their  crimes. 

And  in  sight  of  the  castle  and  in  the  shadow  of  the 
Church,  the  hands  and  feet  were  stricken  away  from  the 
quivering  bodies;  and  the  maimed  wretches,  screaming 
with  pain,  and  moistening  the  highway  with  their  blood, 
were  driven  back  to  their  hovels,  to  illustrate,  in  a  way  the 
dullest  serf  could  understand,  the  dangers  of  protesting 
against  established  wrongs. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

FEUDALISM 

TI7E  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  condition  of  the  world 
underwent  radical  changes  at  the  fall  of  the  Roman 
Empire.  In  almost  every  country  of  Europe  the  original 
inhabitants  were  forced  to  submit  to  newcomers.  North- 
ern tribes  poured  down  upon  Italy,  Spain,  France,  Eng- 
land, and  Germany.  These  invasions  seemed  to  come 
from  Germany,  at  first,  but  afterwards  there  were  inun- 
dations of  tribes  from  still  further  north.  Slavs,  Bul- 
garians, Avars,  Huns,  Magyars,  and  Scythians  pushed 
down  upon  Germany  itself,  displacing  or  absorbing  native 
tribes. 

Out  of  this  state  of  things,  a  military  system  naturally 
arose,  its  primary  object  being  one  of  self-defence.  The 
conquerors  meant  to  hold  what  they  had  taken  —  to  hold 
it  against  conquered  natives  and  against  foreign  assail- 
ants. 

The  plan  they  adopted  is  known  as  the  Feudal  System. 
In  its  original  simplicity,  it  meant  no  more  than  that  the 
man  who  held  a  part  of  the  conquered  land  bound  himself 
to  help  defend  the  whole  of  it.  All  were  to  unite  to 
defend  each  part,  and  the  owner  of  each  part  was  to  be 
ready  to  fight  for  all. 

The  leader,  or  king,  of  the  conquering  tribe  naturally 
claimed  a  large  share  of  the  conquered  land.  Out  of  this 
territory  he  carved  many  large  estates,  giving  them  to  his 

125 


126  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

leudes,  or  other  favourites,  to  be  enjoyed  at  his  pleasure. 
In  return  they  were  to  come  to  his  aid,  if  any  part  of  the 
territory  were  threatened. 

The  nobles  to  whom  the  king  granted  lands,  or  fiefs,  or 
feuds,  would,  in  their  turn,  grant  parcels  of  them  to  their 
own  friends  and  followers,  upon  the  like  condition  of 
rendering  military  service  in  time  of  need. 

This  was  the  embryo  of  that  vast  military  establishment 
which  we  call  the  feudal  system. 

The  theory  on  which  it  based  the  tenure  of  land  was 
that  God  owned  the  soil,  and  under  Him,  the  king,  who, 
by  a  legal  fiction,  could  do  what  he  liked  with  it,  every 
tenant  holding  directly  or  indirectly  from  him. 

The  feudal  tenant  therefore  had  no  title  to  his  land,  at 
first;  he  only  had  the  use  of  it,  the  right  to  occupy  it  as 
long  as  his  lord  was  willing. 

Between  the  feudal  tenant  and  his  lord,  vassalage 
existed;  that  is,  there  was  a  personal  bond  between  the 
two  conveying  the  idea  of  social  inequality,  and  of 
services  to  be  rendered  by  the  tenant. 

The  political  relation  between  lord  and  vassal  is  ex- 
pressed in  the  word  immunity.  As  long  as  the  tenancy 
continued,  the  vassal  was  free  from  his  lord's  interference. 
In  his  own  domains,  he  acted  the  king,  and  no  law  made 
by  his  king,  and  no  new  burden  put  upon  him,  bound 
him  without  his  consent. 

These  were  the  vital  principles  of  feudalism.  It  was  a 
clumsy  military  confederacy.  The  king  was  the  central 
government,  the  chiefs  were  the  separate  states.  In 
theory,  then,  the  king,  in  national  affairs,  controlled  all 
the  chiefs ;  in  local  affairs,  each  chief  exercised  the  right 
of  self-government. 


vin  FEUDALISM  127 

It  will  be  seen  at  a  glance  how  inevitable  it  was  that 
there  should  be  strife  between  the  central  and  the  local 
authority.  There  was  no  constitution  defining  the  limits 
of  power  on  the  one  side  or  the  other.  There  was  no 
tribunal  which  could  arbitrate  differences  between  the 
states  and  the  general  government. 

Hence  under  weak  kings,  the  central  power  was  null ; 
under  strong  kings,  the  states  were  null.  For  ages  these 
two  principles  antagonized  each  other;  and  finally  the 
central  authority  won  —  just  as  it  did  in  the  United 
States  of  America.  In  France,  as  in  America,  it  took 
"blood  and  iron  "  to  settle  the  question. 

At  first,  the  chiefs  held  their  lands  at  the  pleasure  of 
the  king.  Under  Charlemagne  this  was  universally  the 
case,  but  under  his  weak  successors  the  lords  encroached 
upon  the  crown,  and  the  lands  became  hereditary. 

The  feudal  estates  had  not  embraced  all  the  lands  in 
the  kingdom  at  the  beginning.  Much  of  the  soil  remained 
with  the  original  owners,  and  was  free  from  feudal  dues. 
These  were  called  allodial  estates.  But  as  the  disorders 
of  the  times  increased,  it  became  necessary  for  every  land- 
owner to  have  some  powerful  protector,  and  therefore  the 
holders  of  these  allodial  lands  gave  them  up  to  the  feudal 
chiefs,  on  promise  of  protection.  In  this  manner  were 
extinguished  all  the  allodial  estates  in  France. 

By  natural  evolution,  the  burdens  of  the  feudal  system 
increased. 

If  the  chief  was  taken  prisoner  in  war,  the  vassal  was 
forced  to  help  pay  his  ransom.  When  the  lord's  daughter 
married,  or  his  eldest  son  became  a  knight,  it  was  the 
vassal's  duty  to  contribute  to  the  expense.  If  the  chief 
himself  wished  to  make  pilgrimage  to  Palestine,  the 


128  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

vassal  was  asked  to  help  pay  for  the  journey.  The  heir 
of  the  vassal  could  not  take  possession  of  the  inheritance 
till  he  had  paid  the  lord  for  the  privilege.  The  vassal 
could  not  sell  the  land  without  paying  the  lord  a  fine 
equal  to  one  year's  rent.  If  the  vassal  died  without  an 
heir,  the  land  went  back  to  the  lord.  If  he  died  leaving 
a  minor  child,  the  lord  took  possession  of  the  child  and 
the  land,  and  collected  the  rents  for  his  own  use  until 
the  heir  reached  majority.  Female  wards  had  to  marry 
husbands  chosen  by  the  lord,  or  pay  a  heavy  fine  for  their 
disobedience.  Rents  degenerated  from  the  military  ser- 
vice of  forty  days  each  year,  into  payments  in  produce, 
money,  and  labour.  Going  a  step  further,  the  lords 
claimed  the  right  to  monopolize  the  grinding  of  grain, 
the  making  of  wine,  the  baking  of  bread  in  ovens,  and 
the  tenant  had  to  pay  tolls  all  along  the  line.  The  lord 
exercised  the  right  of  seizing  the  tenant's  produce  and 
paying  a  price  fixed  by  himself.  The  tenant  had  to  work 
the  fields  of  his  lord,  gather  the  crop,  make  his  wine, 
haul  his  wood,  repair  his  castle,  the  roads,  and  the  bridges ; 
and  besides  many  other  burdens,  he  had  to  feed  the  lord 
and  his  train  when  they  were  travelling  through  the 
tenant's  district,  and  to  furnish  horses  and  wagons  to 
transport  them. 

Each  of  these  feudal  chiefs,  living  in  a  fortified  castle, 
and  exercising  royal  powers  over  his  own  domains,  coined 
money,  held  courts,  executed  criminals,  and  waged  pri- 
vate war.  They  were  proud,  fearless,  and  cruel.  They 
could  not  write,  few  of  them  could  read,  they  were  so 
ignorant  that  they  put  blind  faith  in  fables  which  the 
children  of  our  day  would  scorn.  But  their  sense  of  per- 
sonal importance  was  gigantic,  and  they  were  ready  at  all 


vm  FEUDALISM  129 

times  to  maintain  honour  with  life.  A  noble  could  not 
exercise  any  trade  without  losing  caste.  Nor  could  he 
marry  out  of  his  class.  If  he  broke  this  unwritten  law, 
he  was  despised  by  his  peers,  and  his  children  considered 
no  better  than  bastards. 

Below  the  chiefs  came  the  freemen  and  the  serfs.  The 
former  were  soldiers,  clericals,  citizens  of  the  chartered 
towns,  or  farmers  who  were  living  under  protection  of 
the  lords. 

The  vast  majority  of  the  people  were  serfs.  They  were 
"bound  to  the  soil,"  and  when  an  estate  changed  masters 
they  went  with  the  land.  They  could  not  leave  the  estate 
without  the  chief's  permission,  nor  could  they  be  made  to 
leave  it. 

These  serfs  were  those  who  were  descended  from  the 
slaves  of  old  times ;  or  they  were  Gauls  reduced  by  the 
Franks ;  or  they  were  serfs  by  voluntary  agreement.  So 
great  was  the  poverty  of  the  lower  orders  that  many  sur- 
rendered their  freedom  for  mere  food  —  to  keep  from  starv- 
ing. In  seasons  of  famine  great  numbers  of  freemen  would 
sell  themselves  for  bread.  The  Greek  merchants  made  a 
regular  business  of  buying  these  famishing  wretches,  and 
selling  them  to  the  Saracens.  It  was  considered  a  humane 
law  when  Charles  the  Bald  enacted  that  a  citizen,  who 
had  sold  himself  into  slavery  to  get  food  to  eat,  should 
have  the  privilege  of  redeeming  himself  at  a  fair  price. 

If  the  king  got  into  a  feud  with  one  of  his  brothers,  or 
with  a  neighbouring  ruler,  and  desired  to  wage  war  upon 
him,  he  could  call  upon  all  his  subjects  to  quit  work  and 
come  into  his  army  to  do  his  fighting.  If  any  poor  devil 
failed  to  respond  to  this  invitation,  he  was  condemned  to 
perpetual  servitude. 


130  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

There  was  still  another  way  in  which  free  men  became 
serfs.  Infatuated  citizens,  burning  with  religious  zeal, 
would  surrender  their  freedom  to  the  Church  and  agree 
to  work  the  lands  of  the  priests,  as  slaves,  in  return  for 
the  promise  that  the  priests  would  pray  for  them. 

What  can  we  say  of  an  age  when  superstition  and 
ignorance  were  so  great  the  citizen  had  no  faith  in  his 
own  prayers,  but  was  willing  to  toil  all  his  life  to  obtain 
the  prayers  of  some  one  else  ? 

And  what  can  we  say  of  the  perversion  of  the  clerical 
power  which  accepted  such  a  pitiable  sacrifice  ? 

Many  of  the  popes  strongly  condemned  slavery,  but  the 
clergy  kept  their  serfs.  When  emancipation  set  in,  at  a 
later  date,  the  slaves  of  the  Church  were  among  the  last 
to  obtain  their  freedom. 

It  is  a  fact  not  generally  known  that  servitude  was  not 
abolished  in  all  parts  of  France  till  the  Revolution  of 
1789. 

During  these  Dark  Ages  the  wealthy  nobles,  as  before 
stated,  lived  in  great  gloomy  castles,  built  of  stone,  look- 
ing more  like  a  modern  jail  than  like  a  palace.  Narrow 
windows  let  in  light  and  air,  and  they  were  crossed  by 
iron  bars  to  keep  out  the  stealthy  assassin.  No  window 
glass  had  yet  come  into  use. 

The  grandee  spent  most  of  his  time  in  hunting,  or  in 
fighting,  or  in  feasting.  They  were  coarse,  barbarous 
men,  brave  as  lions,  and  densely  ignorant.  Rarely  could 
a  book  be  found  in  any  of  these  castles.  Perhaps  I  should 
say  manuscript,  for  books,  as  we  know  them,  were  not  yet 
printed.  Even  if  such  a  work  were  to  be  found,  perhaps 
no  one  in  the  castle  could  read  it,  unless  it  was  the 
priest. 


Tin  FEUDALISM  131 

When  these  aristocrats  were  under  the  necessity  of 
signing  papers  of  any  sort,  which  was  seldom,  they  did 
so  with  a  seal,  or  with  the  point  of  their  swords. 

If  such  rude  manners  prevailed  among  the  nobility,  we 
can  imagine  how  completely  wretched  must  have  been  the 
lot  of  the  common  people,  the  serfs,  who  were  bound  to 
the  soil,  and  who  were  regarded  by  their  masters  as  so 
many  cattle. 

Their  houses  were  mean  huts  of  one  room  without  the 
comfort  or  convenience  which  is  now  given  to  a  cow-stall, 
or  a  horse-stable.  Year  in  and  year  out,  they  toiled  and 
suffered,  without  a  ray  of  light  in  their  squalid  lives, 
or  a  glimpse  of  genuine  knowledge  in  their  shrivelled, 
timorous,  and  priest-ridden  minds.  In  person,  they  were 
slaves ;  and  whatever  their  labour  produced,  was  divided 
between  the  castle  and  the  Church. 

Possibly  these  miserable  peasants  welcomed  the  chance 
to  go  to  the  wars,  and  fight  out  questions  they  did  not 
raise  or  comprehend;  their  lives  were  so  utterly  dreary 
and  pitiable  that  the  freedom  of  the  march  and  the  stern 
joy  of  the  battle  were  perhaps  agreeable  diversions.  Even 
if  they  got  killed,  what  did  they  lose?  Simply  a  few 
years  of  monotonous  drudgery. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  commerce  was  almost  at  a  stand- 
still. There  was  very  little  money,  and  very  little  security 
for  traffic.  Each  noble  had  the  right  to  coin  money,  but 
few  of  them  coined  much ;  and  there  being  so  many  differ- 
ent stamps  on  the  pieces,  general  confidence  in  the  cur- 
rency was  lacking. 

Most  of  the  gold  and  silver  was  kept  in  bulk,  not 
coined,  and  was  weighed  when  used,  like  wheat  and  corn. 

The  destruction  of  cities  in  war,  the  plundering  expe- 


132  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

ditions  of  the  pirates  and  the  robbers,  and  the  fierce 
invasion  of  barbarian  tribes,  caused  immense  quantities 
of  gold  and  silver  to  be  destroyed,  or  lost,  or  hidden 
away. 

Whether  these  causes  be  the  true  ones  or  not,  it  is  a 
historical  truth  that  the  centuries  of  ignorance,  blood- 
shed, and  superstition,  called  the  Dark  Ages,  were  those 
wherein  there  was  no  established  national  currency  to 
stimulate  production,  exchange  commodities,  bring  con- 
servatism to  the  property-owner,  and  to  introduce  some 
comfort  and  refinement  to  the  home  even  of  the  common 
labourer. 

In  fact,  most  of  the  gold  and  silver  had  been  lost  to 
Europe;  —  and  there  can  be  no  progress  and  continuous 
refinement  without  money  of  some  sort. 

In  the  decline  of  the  Roman  Empire,  when  wild  ex- 
travagance was  the  order  of  the  day,  a  great  part  of  her 
gold  and  silver  had  gone  to  India  to  pay  for  luxuries. 
India  bought  nothing  from  Rome,  and  hence  that  money 
never  returned. 

The  feudal  system  created  the  castle,  and  life  in  the 
castle  illustrates  every  phase  of  the  system. 

When  the  Romans  began  to  fall  back  before  the  barba- 
rians, they  did  so  very  slowly,  fighting  as  they  retreated. 
To  hold  their  frontier  lines  against  these  sudden  assaults 
of  disorderly  mobs  of  barbarians,  the  Romans,  in  addition 
to  their  usual  camp-defences  of  ditches  and  palisades, 
threw  up  a  tower  within  the  intrenched  camp.  This 
tower,  with  ramparts  and  trench  around  it,  is  supposed 
to  be  the  germ  of  the  castle.  Great  numbers  of  these 
towers  marked  the  gradual  retreat  of  the  Roman  legions. 

In  course  of  time  the  tower  of  the  Romans  became  the 


mi  FEUDALISM  133 

huge  donjon-keep  of  the  feudal  lord.  Its  walls,  im- 
mensely thick,  and  pierced  here  and  there  by  narrow, 
grated  windows,  sprang  up  to  the  height  of  100  or  even 
200  feet,  and  from  the  roof,  or  turret,  flew  the  flag  of  the 
chief.  This  donjon  was  the  citadel  of  the  feudal  fortress ; 
it  was  the  final  magazine  of  provisions  and  arms ;  the  great 
well  or  cistern  was  always  under  it ;  it  was  the  last  hope 
in  case  of  siege ;  the  desperate,  final  struggle  was  here. 

This  donjon  being  the  nucleus,  other  features  of  the 
system  rapidly  developed.  Not  only  were  other  towers 
added,  on  the  different  sides  of  the  enclosure,  but  build- 
ings were  erected  more  suitable  for  living-purposes. 
Then,  also,  the  church  arose,  and  the  chapel;  the  various 
necessary  houses  for  servants,  cattle,  horses,  and  stores. 

All  this  mass  of  buildings  was  enclosed  by  a  huge 
stone  wall,  very  thick  and  very  high.  Along  these  battle- 
ments the  watchman  tramped,  day  and  night,  summer  and 
winter,  keeping  a  lookout  for  enemies.  These  battle- 
ments were  exposed  to  the  extremes  of  the  weather,  and 
the  warder  was  sometimes  frozen  at  his  post  of  duty. 
But  eventually,  galleries  ran  along  the  ramparts,  shelter- 
ing the  watchmen,  and  adding  to  the  security  of  the  de- 
fenders in  time  of  siege. 

Round  this  inner  square,  and  cutting  it  off  from  all 
communication  with  the  outer  world,  was  not  only  the 
guarded  wall,  but  a  wide  and  deep  canal,  filled  with 
water, —  the  moat.  The  enemy,  in  storming  the  castle, 
could  make  no  headway  till  this  moat  was  filled.  There- 
fore the  filling  of  the  moat  was  desperately  attempted, 
and  as  desperately  resisted. 

From  the  castle  to  the  outer  court,  one  passed  over  the 
moat  by  a  drawbridge,  which  was  raised  and  lowered  by 


134  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

chains.  With  the  drawbridge  up,  the  castle  was  on  a 
fortified  island ;  with  it  down,  it  was  connected  with  the 
outer  court. 

This  outer  court  usually  covered  many  acres.  It  was 
also  defended  by  walls  of  stone  and  massive  gates.  Here 
the  vassals  connected  with  the  castle  lived.  Here  the 
lord's  grain  was  ground  in  his  mill;  bread  baked  in  his 
oven;  grapes  pressed  in  his  wine-press;  horses  shod  in 
his  smithy ;  carts  made  by  his  wheelwrights ;  cloth  woven 
in  his  looms.  This  outer  court  was  the  hive  of  industry 
of  the  castle;  and  this  huddle  of  buildings,  crouching 
close  to  the  donjon-keep  for  protection,  became  the  nucleus 
of  town  and  city. 

Country  life,  as  we  now  have  it,  was  hardly  known. 
For  safety,  one  had  to  seek  shelter  in  the  convent  or  the 
castle. 

Every  day  the  vassals  went  forth  to  toil  in  the  fields ; 
and  the  cattle  were  sent  to  pasture  in  the  swamps.  At 
night  cattle  and  vassals  came  back  to  shelter. 

Here,  then,  we  have  a  fine  idea  of  the  working  of  the 
feudal  system.  This  lord  of  the  castle  is  a  knight,  his 
castle  a  petty  kingdom.  He  fortifies  it,  for  he  is  in 
danger  of  constant  attack.  He  gathers  his  vassals  about 
him,  because  he  needs  them,  and  they  need  him.  It  is 
his  duty  to  drive  away  any  one  who  molests  them ;  it  is 
their  duty  to  help  him  do  it.  He  owes  them  protection ; 
they  owe  him  support.  The  chief  lives  no  life  of  ease : 
he  must  be  ready,  at  all  hours,  to  mount  steed  and  fly  to 
the  defence  of  his  little  state.  Horses  stand  ready  sad- 
dled in  the  stalls;  knights,  armed  from  head  to  heel,  are 
ready  to  ride  at  sound  of  trump.  Let  but  the  watchman 
on  the  wall  blow  the  note  of  alarm,  and  the  castle  hums 


vin  FEUDALISM  136 

with  instant  activity  and  resounds  with  the  rattle  and 
clang  of  arms  and  armour. 

The  chief's  word  is  law.  He  declares  war,  and  makes 
peace.  Sometimes  he  fights  for  the  king ;  sometimes  for 
himself.  Let  but  a  neighbouring  chief  offend  him  by  act, 
or  word,  or  look,  and  there  will  be  copious  shedding  of 
blood. 

The  chief  is  frequently  short  of  money ;  tournaments  are 
most  expensive ;  so  are  weddings,  and  so  are  unlimited  lib- 
eralities to  the  Church  and  to  the  poor.  Therefore  the  chief 
coins  money :  coins  it  out  of  gold,  when  he  has  any ;  out 
of  silver,  when  he  can ;  and  out  of  leather,  when  he  must. 
To  insure  the  circulation  of  his  own  currency,  the  chief 
prohibits  all  others  in  his  little  state,  even  that  of  the 
king.  At  other  times,  the  chief  will  coin  his  money  out 
of  hapless  merchants,  who  may  chance  to  pass  his  way. 
He  will  swoop  down  upon  these  men  of  peace,  and  strip 
them  to  the  very  skin. 

The  chief  is  the  supreme  court  of  his  dominions.  He 
allows  no  lawyers,  no  written  pleadings.  They  would 
bother  him;  to  hear  both  sides  would  confuse  his  mind. 
Besides,  he  would  go  to  sleep  pending  the  reading  of 
authorities.  Being  simple,  and  lacking  in  mental  nim- 
bleness,  he  would  not  know  what  to  do  with  conflicting 
decisions,  each  of  equal  dignity.  Therefore  the  chief 
preserves  his  equilibrium  by  dispensing  with  lawyers  and 
pleadings.  He  holds  court  outside  his  castle,  or  in  its 
great  hall.  He  asks  just  what  questions  he  pleases,  his 
purpose  being  to  get  at  the  truth.  If  the  accused  wants 
to  criminate  himself,  there  is  no  constitutional  objection 
to  his  doing  so.  There  being  no  rational  excuse  for  not 
asking  the  supposed  criminal  all  about  it,  the  chief  asks 


136  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

him.  No  sane  man  can  give  a  good  reason  to  the  con- 
trary. 

When  the  chief  has  satisfied  himself,  judgment  is  pro- 
nounced then  and  there :  no  appeal  can  be  had,  no  motions 
for  new  trial,  no  bills  of  exceptions,  no  motions  in  arrest 
of  judgment.  The  case  is  settled  for  all  time. 

In  civil  matters,  especially,  the  contentions  between 
vassal  and  vassal  may  be  tried  by  jury.  Criminal  cases 
are  also  tried  in  that  way,  sometimes ;  but  the  chief  is  the 
law-lord,  as  well  as  the  war-lord,  and  things  usually  go  as 
he  wants  them. 

Under  the  donjon,  as  the  name  implies,  there  are  dun- 
geons,—  oh,  how  damp,  and  dark,  and  cold!  Into  these 
dungeons  goes  many  a  poor  wretch,  never  to  look  upon 
stream,  or  sky,  or  human  face  again.  Many  a  vassal  rots 
here  among  beetles  and  toads,  because  he  has  angered  his 
lord.  Many  a  serf  starves  like  a  dog  in  these  under- 
ground vaults,  because  he  would  not  yield  money,  or 
cattle,  or  son,  or  daughter,  at  the  behest  of  the  chief. 

Darkness,  cold,  and  slimy  moisture  are  not  the  only 
terrors  of  these  castle  depths.  There  are  iron  wheels, 
jagged  with  bristling  iron  teeth.  On  these  wheels  prison- 
ers will  be  strapped,  and  gaolers  will  beat  the  naked  bod- 
ies of  the  victims  against  the  iron  teeth,  until  death  is 
sweet  relief  from  horrible  pain. 

There  are  knee-clamps,  also,  for  the  crushing  of  the 
knees;  iron  boots  for  the  crushing  of  the  feet;  thumb- 
screws for  the  crushing  of  the  thumbs ;  iron  rods  for  the 
jabbing  out  of  eyes !  Great  heaven !  How  have  the  light- 
nings of  divine  wrath  been  held  back  all  these  bloody 
years ! 

Not  much  comfort,  as  we  understand  the  term,  could 


TIII  FEUDALISM  137 

have  been  possible  in  the  wall-girdled,  grimly  frowning 
castles.  There  was  too  much  anxiety;  too  little  security; 
too  much  bang  and  battle ;  too  little  rest  and  peace. 

The  visitor  to  the  castle  halted  at  a  distance  and  blew 
a  horn :  if  he  came  too  near  without  leave,  he  stood  in  im- 
minent peril  of  being  skewered  with  an  arrow  from  the 
watchman  on  the  wall.  If  such  a  visitor  satisfied  the 
watchman  that  he  was  on  friendly  mission  bent,  he  was 
allowed  to  approach  the  gate,  where  there  was  a  long 
sheet  of  brass,  and  a  hammer.  With  this  hammer  he 
could  beat  upon  the  brass  plate.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  our  knockers,  door-bells,  and  similar  nuisances. 

The  porter  answered  the  noise  made  by  the  hammer, 
and  if  the  master  within  gave  permission,  the  visitor 
could  then  enter  the  castle,  coming  across  the  moat  on 
the  drawbridge,  through  the  portcullis  arch,  and  through 
several  other  gates,  too  numerous  to  mention. 

If  on  horseback,  the  visitor  would  dismount  in  the 
courtyard,  and  pages  would  carry  his  horse  to  the 
stables,  while  other  pages  would  usher  the  visitor  himself 
into  the  presence  of  lord  or  lady. 

Within  the  castle  conveniences  of  life  are  few.  There 
are  tables,  chairs,  beds,  silver  or  pewter  or  wooden 
plates,  and  cups,  knives,  and  spoons;  there  are  no  forks. 
The  rooms  are  lighted  with  long  wax  candles.  The 
kitchen  is,  perhaps,  100  yards  from  the  dining-room. 
There  is  plenty  to  eat  and  plenty  to  drink;  but  none 
of  those  many  comforts  which  are  now  to  be  found  in 
the  home  of  any  industrious  farmer,  mechanic,  or  day- 
labourer.  The  chimney  was  invented  toward  the  twelfth 
century,  and  there  were  fireplaces,  with  hooded  mantels, 
where  huge  logs  brightly  blazed,  and  round  which  the 


138  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

family  circle  gathered.  Window  glass  came  in  later. 
In  all  these  castles  the  lavatory  was  as  much  a  matter 
of  course  as  the  hall  and  the  gateway.  The  washing- 
room  was  always  there,  with  jets  of  water  emptying 
into  bowls,  and  towels  to  wipe  with,  also.  People  ate 
with  their  fingers,  like  the  Turks;  hence  each  man  had 
a  keen  interest  in  the  hands  of  his  neighbours,  and  was 
bound  to  see  to  it  that  he  came  to  table  clean.  Then, 
again,  the  clear-water  moat  made  bathing  convenient. 
Marble  bath-tubs  were  unknown,  it  is  true,  but  in  the 
basement  of  the  castle  were  stone  troughs  and  wooden 
tubs,  filled  from  the  moat,  and  the  inmates  of  the  castle 
had  almost  a  passion  for  the  bath. 

We  find  the  rudest  of  the  kings  of  feudal  France 
delighting  in  the  water.  Clotaire  I.  was  often  to  be 
seen,  stark-naked,  swimming  and  frolicking  in  the  river, 
surrounded  by  his  naked  companions  in  arms,  his  leudes. 

The  floors  of  the  castle  were  of  brick,  sometimes  covered 
with  rushes,  straw,  or  the  skins  of  wild  animals.  The 
walls  were  often  covered  with  tapestries,  woven  by  the 
ladies  of  the  family,  and  representing  scenes  from  history, 
romance,  or  Scripture. 

Sometimes  the  walls  of  the  chambers  would  be  painted 
with  pictures,  either  allegorical,  or  representing  natural 
objects.  To  have  such  a  painted  chamber  was  the  pet 
fancy  of  lord  and  lady.  The  beds  were  immense  affairs, 
with  mattress  upon  mattress ;  the  coverlet  was  sometimes 
of  silk,  frequently  embroidered  in  gold.  Night-clothes 
were  unknown,  and  each  man  and  woman  went  to  bed 
quite  naked. 

In  the  chamber  of  the  chief  and  his  wife,  a  wax  candle 
burns  all  night ;  for  he  never  knows  when  he  will  have  to 


mi  FEUDALISM  139 

get  up  out  of  bed  and  go  forth  to  kill  somebody  —  or  to 
be  killed  himself. 

This  fortress  is  another  oasis  in  the  desert  of  disorder. 
Here  the  weak  find  shelter  and  safety ;  the  poor  alms ;  the 
foe  defiance  and  fight. 

Very  haughty  this  chief  may  be  to  his  vassals;  many 
an  outrage  he  may  perpetrate  on  serf  and  freeman,  on  the 
poor  man's  son,  on  the  poor  man's  daughter.  But  he  will 
not  allow  other  chiefs  like  action.  Not  a  hair  of  the  head 
of  any  slave  in  all  his  domain  may  any  other  prince  touch, 
without  accounting  to  this  lord  for  it.  He  exacts  obedi- 
ence, harshly,  excessively,  but  protection  he  has  promised, 
and  will  give.  His  own  pride  is  involved  —  likewise  his 
interest. 

This  is  known  throughout  the  land ;  therefore  in  times 
of  peace  marauders  dare  not  molest  his  vassals.  The 
castle,  then,  is  also  a  city  of  refuge  in  a  distracted  land. 

In  these  castles  the  monk  prays,  or  teaches ;  the  trouba- 
dour sings  of  lovers  true  and  maidens  fair;  the  children 
make  their  stony  galleries  ring  with  the  merriment  of 
youthful  games ;  the  soldier,  resting  in  their  hospitality, 
talks  of  his  battles  and  fights  them  over  again.  In  the 
great  hall  hang  trophies  of  many  a  chase,  many  a  fight. 
The  antlers  of  the  stag,  the  tusks  of  the  boar,  the  hide  of 
the  bear,  the  horns  of  the  bull,  may  all  be  seen  there,  and 
around  each  gathers  a  story.  Pennons  taken  in  battle, 
armour  and  weapons, — all  hang  along  the  walls,  and 
speak  of  warlike  deeds. 

In  this  great  hall  the  vassals  feast  with  the  lord,  and 
take  the  oath  of  allegiance.  Here  the  Christmas  revels 
are  held,  with  mirth  loud  and  long;  here  the  marriage 
train  passes,  in  happy  state ;  here  the  funeral  dirge  rises 


140  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

and  echoes  along  the  lofty  corridors  —  for  life  is  but  life, 
wheresoever  men  live  it. 

The  troubadour  is  the  poet  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the 
musician  of  the  feudal  system.  In  his  romance  the  war- 
rior hopes  to  live ;  in  his  song  beauty  believes  it  will  never 
fade.  He  is  the  loved  of  lords  and  of  ladies,  for  in  his 
songs  of  brave  men  and  fair  women  throb  the  highest  emo- 
tions of  both.  He  is  the  literary  rebel  of  his  times,  and 
priests  look  but  sourly  upon  him ;  for  he  sings  of  wine, 
woman,  love,  fame,  and  pleasure,  when  the  monk  would 
fain  have  all  writing  and  singing  confined  to  homilies 
and  hymns,  to  accounts  of  miracles,  and  marvellous  stories 
of  saints. 

Out  of  those  grim  castle  gates  the  train  of  gallant 
knights  will  ride  to  battle,  lances  poised,  spur  on  heel, 
plume  on  crest.  Watched  anxiously  from  the  battle- 
ments, they  will  be  seen  on  the  return,  bringing  captured 
banners,  spoils  of  war,  or  rival  chief  in  bonds.  Or,  it 
may  be,  anxious  watchers  will  not  see  the  knights  return ; 
but  will  see  the  breathless  messenger  instead,  the  bearer 
of  evil  tidings,  all  covered  with  dust  and  blood,  and  tell- 
ing with  broken  voice  of  battle  lost,  of  riderless  steeds, 
of  gallant  warriors  dead  on  distant  field  —  and  the  castle 
will  ring  with  the  woe  that  was  heard  of  old  in  Ramah. 

From  these  battlements  the  crusader  will  be  watched 
as  he  rides  away  to  the  Holy  Land.  Tear-dimmed  eyes 
will  follow  his  fading  figure  till  it  is  lost  in  the  distance. 
From  these  walls  he  will  be  seen  as  he  painfully  plods 
homeward  again,  sore  in  body  and  in  mind.  Or,  it  may 
be,  he  goes  forth  not  to  return,  arid  strained  eyes  will 
look  eastward  for  a  pilgrim  who  comes  no  more. 

In  this  vast  courtyard,   or  out   011   the  plain  beyond 


vin  FEUDALISM  141 

these  walls,  the  tournament  will  be  held.  Mail-clad 
knights  will  meet  in  the  arena,  and  shiver  lances  under 
the  eyes  of  fair  ladies.  Or  brilliant  cavalcades  will  go 
hence  on  sunny  days  to  hawK  in  the  fields,  or  to  chase  the 
stag  in  the  forest,  or  to  bait  the  fierce  wild  boar  in  the 
woods.  In  these  days  the  hunter  benefits  the  people ;  he 
slays  the  too  numerous  wild  animals  which  destroy  the 
crops. 

Whatever  of  splendour  there  is  in  all  France,  is  here  in 
the  castle,  or  at  the  monastery.  There  is  none  in  the  hut. 
No  honour  is  paid  to  labour,  and  no  reward.  To  fight  is  the 
one  crying  need  of  the  system,  and  all  honours  go  to  the 
men  who  fight.  The  serf  must  work,  and  furnish  food  for 
all;  and  he  must  be  content  to  look  upward  in  humble 
obedience  to  his  master.  He  must  drudge  for  my  lord  of 
the  castle ;  must  cut  wood,  draw  water,  clean  stables,  till 
the  fields,  harvest  the  crop.  If  he  fail  of  any  duty,  he 
will  be  beaten  with  many  stripes.  Perchance  in  a  fit  of 
spleen  my  lord  may  buffet  him  with  iron-gloved  hand,  so 
that  he  dies :  in  that  event  he  is  dead,  and  that's  all. 

Round  this  castle  enemies  may  gather  in  battle  array. 
The  storm  of  war  then  beats  about  the  walls.  The  castle 
will  be  attacked  and  defended,  as  walled  cities  are.  There 
will  be  assaults,  and  there  will  be  sallies,  mines  and 
counter-mines,  pitfalls  and  surprises,  shouts  of  the  living, 
and  groans  of  the  dying. 

Before  these  gates  will  be  acted,  in  all  fulness,  the  red 
drama  of  war ;  and  the  issue  will  be  watched  with  blanched 
cheeks  by  wives  and  daughters,  dwelling  here  in  the  castle. 
If  the  enemy  be  routed,  the  castle  forces  will  pursue,  will 
slaughter,  will  take  bloody  revenge,  —  and  the  troubadour 
will  make  a  song  about  it. 


142  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP,  vm 

If  the  castle  be  too  weak  to  resist,  then  God  defend 
us !  —  for  the  marauders  will  feel  no  pity.  In  a  great  rush 
of  trampling  feet,  amid  curses  and  groans  and  clash  of  arms, 
the  foe  will  dash  in,  sword  and  torch  in  hand.  The  vas- 
sal will  die  where  he  stands.  The  chief  will  fall  like  the 
lion  at  bay.  The  fire  will  burst  forth  and  roar  through 
all  the  galleries.  Screaming  women  will  be  slain,  or 
worse.  Looted  from  top  to  bottom,  the  castle  is  roaring 
like  a  vast  furnace.  The  victors  go  their  way  savagely 
exultant.  With  a  mighty  crash,  the  roofs  and  floors  fall  in, 
and  a  grim  pile  of  smoking  ruins  is  left  —  ruins  which  all 
Europe  even  yet  preserves,  with  a  certain  veneration,  as 
relics  of  a  system  which  served  its  purpose,  and  then 
passed  away. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  CRUSADES 

"  n  OD  wills  it !     God  wills  it !  " 

Such  was  the  battle-cry  which  rose  from  the  plains  of    A.». 
Clermont  in  November,  1095,  as  the   assembled  hosts  of 
Christians  heard  the  call  of  the  Church  for  volunteers  to 
rescue  the  sepulchre  of  Christ. 

The  spot  where  our  Saviour  rested  had  been  profaned 
by  infidel  feet.  The  pilgrims  who  journeyed  to  Palestine 
had  been  subjected  to  insult  and  to  outrage.  A  poor 
priest,  burning  with  resentment  at  the  cruelties  he  had 
witnessed,  had  returned  to  Europe,  and,  with  the  sanction 
of  the  Pope,  had  gone  from  village  to  village,  from  city  to 
city,  kindling  the  fires  of  religious  enthusiasm.  Unattrac- 
tive in  person,  unskilled  in  learning,  ragged  in  apparel, 
there  was  nothing  in  his  appearance  which  could  promise 
the  wonders  he  worked.  But  the  gift  of  eloquence  was 
his,  and  to  him  came  the  power  which  so  mysteriously 
belongs  to  intense  zeal  when  wedded  to  intense  purpose. 
To  such  men,  whether  they  be  high  or  low,  whether 
learned  or  unlearned,  it  has  pleased  God  to  yield  mar- 
vellous influence,  in  moulding  the  thoughts  of  men  and 
changing  the  destinies  of  nations. 

Peter  the  Hermit  was  nothing  but  an  humble  priest, 
without  silver  or  gold,  houses  or  lands  or  office.  Yet  he 
stormed  with  fiery  pleadings,  both  the  castle  and  the 

143 


144  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

church,  the  king  and  the  people.  No  rank  was  too 
high,  none  was  too  low  —  the  spell  of  his  eloquence  fell 
upon  all  ranks  alike,  shaming  the  haughty  noble  into 
purer  thoughts,  and  lifting  the  lowly  peasant  to  higher 
hopes. 

Therefore,  when  the  Church  summoned  the  grand 
Council  of  Clermont  in  1095,  there  was  such  a  gathering 
as  no  Pope  had  ever  seen.  Thirteen  archbishops,  and  two 
hundred  and  five  bishops,  or  abbots,  were  met  by  so  many 
princes,  and  so  many  feudal  lords,  and  so  many  of  the  com- 
mon people,  that  the  towns  and  villages  of  the  neighbour- 
hood were  crowded,  and  every  field  and  meadow  was  dotted 
with  tents. 

On  a  platform,  built  upon  the  plains,  Pope  Urban  II., 
arrayed  in  all  the  splendour  of  the  pontifical  robes,  took 
position,  accompanied  by  Peter  the  Hermit,  who  was 
dressed  as  a  simple  pilgrim.  The  great  throng  of  princes 
and  prelates,  of  nobles  and  of  serfs,  stood  on  every  side 
of  the  platform  —  intensely  concerned  in  the  words  to  be 
spoken. 

Peter  was  the  first  to  speak.  He  told  the  story  of  his 
journey  to  Palestine,  of  his  visit  to  Jerusalem.  He  pict- 
ured the  miseries  and  the  humiliations  of  the  Christians 
there.  He  described  the  insults  he  had  himself  suffered, 
and  the  tortures  he  had  seen  inflicted  upon  others.  As 
he  spoke,  men  forgot  his  squalid  appearance.  The  fires 
of  his  zeal  and  purpose  caught  up  the  gathered  fuel  his 
audience  furnished,  and  lit  it  as  the  spark  lights  the  maga- 
zine. From  one  boundary  of  the  throng  to  the  other 
the  feeling  was  the  same,  and  the  glory  of  human  speech 
had  reached  its  divinest  end  —  it  had  planted  the  same 
thought  in  the  mind  of  the  master  and  the  slave,  of  the 


ix  THE   CRUSADES  145 

noble  and  the  serf,  of  the  rich  and  the  poor,  of  the  learned 
and  the  unlearned.  It  had  swept  away  the  barriers  of 
caste  and  pride,  of  dress  and  manners,  of  interest  and  of 
occupation.  For  the  time,  all,  all,  were  alike  —  the  chil- 
dren of  God,  tossed  by  the  same  tempest  of  feeling,  driven 
by  the  same  torrent  of  purpose. 

So,  when  the  Pope,  representing  all  that  was  most 
sacred  in  their  eyes,  and  speaking  for  Him  whose  tomb 
and  whose  disciples  had  been  insulted,  uttered  the  call 
to  action,  the  multitude  in  response  was  as  the  sound  of 
the  sea. 

"Take  ye,  then,  the  road  to  Jerusalem,"  cried  the 
pontiff. 

"  God  wills  it !     God  wills  it ! "  cried  the  people. 

The  plans  for  the  crusade  were  matured,  the  badge  to 
be  worn  chosen,  the  time  for  setting  out  appointed. 

Then  the  Council  of  Clermont  was  ended,  its  name  to 
be  remembered  ever  after  as  one  of  those  assemblies  which 
change  the  march  of  the  world. 

For  centuries  the  East  had  been  invading  the  West. 
In  huge  armies  the  followers  of  Mohammed  had  swept 
over  Greece  and  Germany  and  Spain,  making  war  upon 
the  followers  of  Christ. 

At  the  battle  of  Tours  they  had  been  met  and  decisively 
thrown  back  by  Charles  Martel,  the  grandfather  of  Charle- 
magne. Subsequently  they  had  been  driven  still  further 
until  they  had  ceased  to  be  a  danger  to  Europe. 

Now,  however,  the  order  of  invasion  was  to  be  reversed. 
For  two  hundred  years  the  West  was  to  assail  the  East. 
Christians  were  to  invade  Mohammedans. 

This  was  not  by  any  means  the  most  important  of  the 
changes  the  crusades  were  to  bring.  It  was  to  cause 


146  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

much  alteration  in  the  social  and  political  status.  The 
feudal  lords,  in  making  the  preparations  for  the  holy 
war  suitable  to  their  rank,  found  it  necessary  to  obtain 
supplies  of  money.  To  do  so,  they  were  sometimes  com- 
pelled to  encumber  their  estates,  or  even  to  sell  portions 
thereof.  Many  a  town,  oppressed  by  its  feudal  chieftain, 
bought  liberal  charters  at  this  time,  which  placed  the  city 
government  in  the  hands  of  its  own  citizens. 

Another  feature  of  such  a  general  movement  was  that 
it  tended  to  lessen  the  differences  between  the  classes. 
Inasmuch  as  all  were  taking  part  in  the  same  grand  enter- 
prise, a  certain  sense  of  equality,  of  brotherhood,  was 
necessarily  created. 

To  encourage  volunteers,  certain  special  privileges  were 
granted.  No  debt  was  to  bear  interest  while  the  debtor 
was  away  on  the  crusade ;  taxes  were  suspended ;  no  suit 
could  be  brought  for  debt  while  the  debtor  was  bearing 
the  cross ;  the  crusader  was  placed  under  the  protection 
of  the  Church,  his  penances  remitted,  his  sins  forgiven, 
and  his  eternal  salvation  assured. 

A.D.  The  Council  of  Clermont  had  fixed  August,  1096,  as 
5  the  time  for  departure  of  the  crusaders  for  the  Holy  Land ; 
but  the  impatience  of  the  people  was  so  great  that  on 
March  8,  1096,  three  multitudes,  numbering  more  than 
100,000  people,  set  out.  Men,  women,  and  children  even, 
left  home  and  fireside  for  this  pious  pilgrimage.  Their 
progress  was  disorderly  and  their  sufferings  soon  became 
intolerable.  Having  made  no  sufficient  preparations  for 
such  a  journey,  having  cast  themselves  upon  the  road 
with  the  idea  that  they  would  be  miraculously  fed,  their 
wants  soon  reminded  them  that,  after  all,  enthusiasm  must 
not  cut  loose  entirely  from  common  sense. 


ix  THE   CRUSADES  147 

Driven  by  hunger,  they  began  to  pillage  the  towns 
through  which  they  passed.  In  vain  did  their  leaders, 
one  of  whom  was  Peter  the  Hermit,  endeavour  to  keep 
them  in  bounds.  So  great  became  their  ravages  upon 
the  Hungarians  and  the  Bulgarians,  that  these  people 
rose  in  arms  against  the  lawless  pilgrims  and  almost  ex- 
terminated them.  Only  a  remnant  of  the  100,000  reached 
Constantinople  and  landed  on  the  shores  of  Asia.  With 
the  exception  of  Peter  and  a  few  others,  the  Saracens 
destroyed  them  utterly. 

Following  this  disorderly  mob  came  the  real  strength 
of  the  crusaders.  A  magnificent  army,  raised  in  France 
and  Italy,  commanded  by  the  most  renowned  feudal  chief- 
tains of  the  age,  and  numbering  more  than  600,000  men, 
was  put  in  motion  in  Europe,  reached  Asia  in  splendid 
condition,  and  commenced  the  campaign  with  military 
system.  Many  a  brilliant  reputation  was  made  on  this 
romantic  march.  The  chivalry  of  Europe  found  a  field 
which  excited  its  valour  to  the  noblest  pitch.  Clad  in 
steel  armour  from  head  to  foot,  borne  into  battle  on 
magnificent  steeds,  fighting  under  banners  which  had 
been  woven  by  some  fair  woman's  hand  and  blessed  in 
some  church,  these  knights,  cold  and  proud  and  cruel  as 
they  sometimes  could  be  at  home,  were  among  the  bravest 
men  who  ever  courted  death  as  the  price  of  glory.  The 
light  troops  of  the  East  were  no  match  for  them.  On 
every  plain  they  fought  and  won.  At  every  hostile  city 
they  knocked  and  entered  —  knocked  with  the  battle-axe 
and  entered,  lance  in  rest.  Nice  in  Bithynia  fell  before 
them ;  so  did  Antioch,  and  all  the  surrounding  cities.  In 
the  spring  of  the  year  1099  the  crusaders  came  in  sight  of 
Jerusalem  itself.  In  July  of  the  same  year  they  captured  it. 


148  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Peter  the  Hermit  was  present,  and  thus  had  the  rare 
joy  of  entering  triumphantly,  with  a  victorious  army,  the 
city  his  eloquence  had  sought  to  redeem. 

It  is  painful  to  dwell  on  the  horrible  massacre  with 
which  the  crusaders  disgraced  their  success.  Seventy 
thousand  of  the  citizens  of  Jerusalem  were  slain,  after 
the  city  had  surrendered  and  all  resistance  had  ceased. 
And  to  make  the  matter  worse,  this  atrocity  was  com- 
mitted after  the  pilgrims  had  gone  in  penitential  proces- 
sion, barefooted,  to  the  holy  sepulchre  of  the  Prince  of 
Peace  —  the  Teacher  of  good  will  to  men. 

It  is  likewise  painful  to  know  how  much  greed  and 
rapacity  were  shown  by  the  leaders  of  the  crusade ;  to 
know  the  jealousies  which  divided  the  army  into  furious 
factions ;  to  know  that  each  leader  seemed  bent  merely 
on  filling  his  own  pockets  with  gold  or  carving  out  for 
himself,  from  the  conquered  territory,  a  principality  over 
which  he  might  rule. 

Above  the  heads  of  these  meaner  spirits,  however, 
tower  men  like  Godfrey  and  Tancred  —  men  who  are 
favourites  with  history  and  with  romance,  in  poetry  and 
in  song. 

A  government  for  Jerusalem  was  established,  with 
Godfrey  at  its  head,  and  most  of  the  surviving  cru- 
saders returned  home.  Few  of  them  ever  saw  native 
land  again. 

Peter  the  Hermit,  coming  back  to  Europe,  lived  in 
retirement  in  France  near  Huy,  where  he  founded  a 
monastery.  He  died  on  the  llth  of  July,  1115. 

The  Christian  government  thus  set  up  in  Palestine 
and  Syria  had  to  struggle  for  existence  from  the  begin- 
ning. The  Europeans,  being  so  far  from  their  source 


ix  THE  CRUSADES  149 

of  reinforcements,  gradually  lost  ground.     One  city  after 
another  fell  back  into  the  hands  of   the   Mohammedans.    A  D 
In  the  year  1187  the  celebrated  Saladin  retook  Jerusalem    1187 
itself,  and  thus  ended  the  Christian  rule. 

Only  seven  years  later,  Richard  of  the  Lion  Heart, 
king  of  England,  vainly  performed  wonders  of  courage 
in  the  effort  to  recover  the  lost  ground.  The  task  was 
too  great.  He  advanced  his  victorious  army  within  sight 
of  Jerusalem,  but  was  compelled  to  retreat  in  despair, 
"covering  his  eyes  with  his  hands  and  saying  he  was 
not  worthy  to  look  upon  the  city  he  was  not  able  to 
conquer." 

Even  after  Richard  and  his  associate  kings,  Louis  of 
France  and  Conrad  of  Germany,  had  given  up  the 
enterprise,  Europe  still  struggled  to  redeem  the  Holy 
Land.  Seven  great  crusades  were  preached.  The  kings 
of  France,  of  England,  of  Denmark,  the  emperor  of  Ger- 
many, and  the  princes  of  Italy  successively  engaged  in 
them.  They  all  failed,  and  they  cost  the  lives  of  count- 
less men. 

By  the   year   1291    the    crusading    spirit    had    passed    A.D. 
away,   and   there   was   not   a   foot   of    soil    in   Palestine    *291 
which   belonged   to   the    Christians.      The    followers    of 
Mohammed  ruled  the  land,  as  they  have  done  even  unto 
this  day. 

******          *** 

But  while  the  crusades  were  a  complete  failure  in  the 
direct  object  aimed  at,  they  were  of  great,  though  indi- 
rect, benefit  to  mankind.  They  brought  the  people  of 
the  West  together  for  the  first  time  in  a  great  national 
movement,  based  upon  an  exalted  idea.  They  obliterated, 
to  a  great  extent,  private  feuds  and  private  wars  among 


150  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

the  feudal  lords.  They  gave  impetus  to  the  upward 
tendency  of  the  lower  ranks,  and  they  indirectly  dimin- 
ished the  power  of  the  nobles.  They  brought  the  West- 
ern people  into  contact  with  the  civilization  of  the 
Roman  Empire  of  the  East,  and  of  the  Mohammedans 
of  Syria  and  Asia  Minor,  each  of  which  was  immensely 
superior  to  that  of  Europe.  They  stimulated  commerce 
and  the  mechanical  arts.  They  broadened  the  knowledge 
and  liberalized  the  views  of  the  European  statesmen. 
Finally,  they  dispelled  the  mental  paralysis  which  had 
benumbed  the  minds  of  men  upon  the  subject  of  their 
relations  to  the  Church.  People  were  taught  in  a  way 
they  could  not  forget,  the  fallibility  of  all  mortals,  whether 
clerical  or  lay.  The  head  of  the  Church  had  sanctioned 
and  encouraged  and,  in  fact,  dictated  the  crusades. 
Success  was  guaranteed  in  the  most  solemn  and  positive 
terms.  False  miracles  and  pretended  prophecies  were 
called  to  the  aid  of  the  priesthood  in  arousing  the  peo- 
ple. It  was  confidently  taught  that  Christ  would  not 
suffer  his  followers  to  be  defeated  in  a  contest  with 
the  deluded  fanatics  who  believed  in  Mohammed. 

Yet  no  glossing  of  the  record  could  hide  the  fact 
from  the  dullest  serf  that  the  enterprise  had  been  a 
prodigious  failure.  In  spite  of  the  millions  of  lives 
wasted,  in  spite  of  the  untold  treasures  squandered,  in 
spite  of  all  the  prayers  and  all  the  powers  of  Christian 
Europe  and  her  bravest  and  best  men,  the  despised 
infidel  had  driven  them  off  the  continent  in  hopeless 
defeat.  Hence  the  people  of  Europe,  in  spite  of  them- 
selves, learned  a  most  valuable  lesson.  After  that  period 
the  blind  credulity  of  the  laity  was  not  quite  so  strong. 
Miracles  grew  scarcer.  Spurious  prophecies  found  fewer 


ix  THE   CRUSADES  151 

dupes.  Almost  apologetically,  people  began  to  do  some 
thinking  for  themselves.  A  little  independence  of  con- 
viction timidly  claimed  the  right  to  live.  The  tremen- 
dous difference  between  the  churchman  and  the  layman 
lessened  itself  somewhat.  Men  grasped  the  thought  that 
the  "will  of  God"  was  not  necessarily  what  some  en- 
thusiastic priest  said  it  was,  even  though  the  Pope  and 
the  multitude  assented  thereto. 

In  brief,  the  pretensions  of  the  Church  as  custodian  of 
the  Divine  pleasure  had  received  a  check  from  which  it 
never  recovered,  and  its  mastery  over  kings  and  peoples 
was  never  afterwards  so  great. 

Religion  took  its  first  step  toward  that  splendid  emi- 
nence it  now  holds  —  complete  independence  of  earthly 
trappings  and  measurements  and  intolerant  dictations; 
complete  freedom  for  the  mind  to  choose  its  creed  and 
to  shape  its  course  thereby,  fearing  no  wrath  and  courting 
no  approval  save  that  of  God. 

Just  as  travelling  broadens  the  individual  man  of  to-day, 
and  gives  him  juster  conceptions  of  men  and  things,  so 
the  crusades  widened  the  mental  horizon  of  European 
nations. 

They  went  forth  among  Eastern  peoples  expecting  to 
find  uncouth  and  cowardly  opponents,  who  would  run  at 
the  sight  of  mail-clad  knights  and  flaming  banners.  They 
met  men  who  were  better  equipped  than  themselves, 
mounted  on  better  horses,  armed  with  better  weapons, 
led  by  better  generals,  and  burning  with  as  fierce  a 
courage  as  their  own.  They  found  in  the  East  more 
culture,  more  refinement,  more  luxury,  more  science, 
more  civilization,  than  they  had  left  at  home. 

They   found   the  despised   Arabs   practising   medicine, 


162  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

and  curing  disease  with  nature's  remedies.  At  home  the 
priest  forbade  the  physician  to  meddle  with  God's  will, 
and  the  sick  man  was  left  to  be  cured  by  prayers,  relics, 
and  miracles. 

From  these  Arabs,  through  the  crusaders,  Europe 
learned  the  use  of  narcotics,  of  potassium,  nitrate  of  silver, 
corrosive  sublimate,  nitric  and  sulphuric  acid,  camphor, 
senna,  rhubarb,  and  alcohol.  Arab  surgeons  were  skilful, 
their  materia  medica  extensive,  and  many  of  their  modes 
of  treatment  survive  among  us  to  this  day. 

The  Arab's  house  of  the  better  class  was  a  marvel  of 
elegance,  his  farm  a  model,  his  garden  a  paradise.  Even 
now  the  remains  of  Arabic  architecture  are  among  the 
most  exquisitely  lovely  specimens  to  be  found  on  earth. 
The  Alhambra  of  Grenada,  the  Alcazar  of  Seville,  are  so 
full  of  the  pathos  of  a  civilization  which  is  forever  gone 
that  they  fill  us  with  a  sadness  no  tongue  can  utter. 

His  garden  was  a  thing  of  beauty.  The  most  luscious 
fruits  hung  over  its  marble  walks,  the  rarest  flowers 
filled  it  with  perfume,  birds  sang  in  the  depths  of  the 
glorious  trees,  and  upon  the  ear  fell  with  soothing  melody 
the  plash  of  fountains. 

His  farm  was  a  picture  of  order  and  fruitfulness. 
Science  assisted  nature,  fertilizers  were  studied  with 
regard  to  their  special  fitness  for  special  crops,  systematic 
irrigation  supplied  perpetual  moisture,  and  the  earth  was 
green  and  luxuriant  from  germination  to  golden  harvest. 
The  Arab  knew  how  to  graft,  how  to  improve  on  nature's 
varieties  and  multiply  them.  He  knew  how  to  make 
syrup  and  sugar  from  cane,  and  no  wines  were  choicer 
than  his. 

In  manufactures  he  was  an  artist.     His  glass  and  pottery 


ix  THE  CRUSADES  153 

were  of  the  finest  quality,  his  textile  fabrics  unsurpassed  in 
excellence,  and  he  was  not  to  be  rivalled  in  working 
leather,  dyed  cloths,  paper,  gold,  silver,  copper,  iron,  and 
steel. 

The  Damascus  blade  of  romance  was  Arabic,  so  was 
the  pendulum,  the  windmill,  the  arch,  the  dome,  the 
minaret ;  and  if  they  did  not  invent  the  numerals  we  use, 
they  certainly  made  vast  improvements  in  our  knowledge 
of  geometry,  mathematics,  astronomy.  Algebra  is  their 
undoubted  creation,  and  so  is  decimal  notation,  and  the 
naught  of  our  numeral  tables. 

To  the  crusades  we  owe  the  introduction  of  the  best 
type  of  the  horse.  We  owe  to  it  likewise  the  donkey  and 
the  mule. 

The  Arab  was  the  creator  of  a  splendid  civilization. 
He  had  flourishing  cities,  a  wide  commerce,  great  schools, 
a  literature  of  poetry  and  prose,  manufactures  in  a  high 
state  of  development,  agriculture  productive  and  profita- 
ble. 

In  Asia  Minor  and  Spain  this  Arabian  civilization  was 
seen  at  its  best:  the  Turks  stamped  it  down  in  Asia,  and 
the  Christians  destroyed  it  in  Spain. 


CHAPTER  X 

CHIVALRY 

TN  the  shade  of  some  old  forest  in  Germany,  it  was  the 

custom  of  the  tribe  in  early  times  to  assemble  and  wit- 
ness the  ceremony  which  marked  the  advance  of  the  young 
warrior  from  boyhood  into  manhood.  The  form  was  sim- 
ple. The  chief  of  the  tribe,  in  the  presence  of  the  assem- 
bly, placed  in  the  hands  of  the  youth  a  sword  and  a  shield. 
These  were  the  badges  of  his  manhood,  and  from  thence- 
forth his  name  was  enrolled  among  the  free  citizens  and 
warriors  of  his  tribe. 

The  oaks  do  not  more  surely  grow  from  the  acorns,  the 
rivers  from  the  far-away  springs,  than  do  great  systems 
from  simple  beginnings.  Out  of  the  scanty  materials  sup- 
plied by  this  ancient  custom  of  their  German  forefathers, 
the  French  developed  one  of  the  most  splendid,  elaborate, 
and  unnatural  systems  ever  known  to  the  human  race. 

Chivalry  has  been  denned  as  an  armed  force  enlisted  in 
the  service  of  unarmed  truth.  Another  writer  says,  "  Chiv- 
alry is  the  Christian  form  of  the  military  profession ;  the 
knight  is  the  Christian  soldier."  Still  another  says,  "  It 
was  in  that  terrible  hour,"  the  Dark  Ages,  "that  the 
Church  undertook  the  education  of  the  Christian  soldier, 
and  offered,  to  the  brutal  and  lawless  feudal  chieftain,  a 
lofty  ideal  of  noble  endeavour." 

Chivalry  was  a  close  corporation,  of  military  and  reli- 

164 


CHAP,  x  CHIVALRY  155 

gious  character,  whose  members  were  called  knights,  and 
who  were  chosen  from  the  aristocracy.  Riches  were  not 
essential  to  knighthood,  but  high  birth  was.  Only  a  gen- 
tleman could  aspire  to  membership.  In  those  days,  one 
who  was  born  in  the  upper  circles  was  a  gentleman,  no 
matter  how  vile  were  his  manners  or  his  character. 

When  one  of  the  boys  of  a  feudal  lord  was  intended 
for  membership  in  this  corporation,  his  training  for  it 
commenced  when  he  was  seven  years  old.  Removed  from 
the  care  of  women,  he  was  usually  brought  up  in  the  cas- 
tle of  some  neighbouring  lord,  under  the  teachings  of 
men.  Until  he  was  fourteen  years  old  he  was  called  a 
page.  He  was  taught  obedience,  courtesy,  truthfulness, 
respect  for  women,  and  reverence  for  the  Church.  He 
was  made  to  serve  and  to  obey.  He  was  expected  to  help 
about  the  domestic  work  of  the  castle,  to  get  the  table 
ready  for  the  meals  in  the  great  hall.  He  must  lay  the 
cloth  and  arrange  the  dishes.  He  must  serve  the  lord  of 
the  castle  and  his  lady  while  they  are  eating.  He  must 
be  attentive  and  polite  to  the  distinguished  visitors  at  the 
castle.  He  must  learn  how  to  read,  how  to  hunt,  how  to 
ride,  and  how  to  pray.  In  exceptional  cases  he  may  be 
taught  to  write.  His  copy-book  will  be  a  wax  tablet  and 
his  pen  will  be  an  iron  rod  with  a  sharp  point.  He  will 
be  carefully  taught  that  the  world  is  flat.  Maps  will  be 
shown  him  to  prove  it.  He  will  believe  it,  all  through  his 
bones,  just  as  we  believe  so  many  similar  errors,  because 
they  were  hammered  into  our  heads  when  we  were  young. 

His  books  will  tell  him  that  there  are  lands  where  the 
sun  never  shines,  where  the  grain  will  not  grow,  where 
the  rocks  are  all  black,  where  there  is  no  dew,  and  whose 
inhabitants  are  demons.  They  will  tell  him  of  others 


156  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

more  terrible  still  —  lands  where  the  skins  of  the  men  are 
harder  than  iron;  of  others  where  the  people  feed  on 
decaying  flesh ;  of  others  where  the  chins  and  teeth  of  the 
inhabitants  are  united  directly  to  their  chests ;  of  others 
where  the  men  have  horns  like  sheep ;  of  others  where 
they  bark  like  dogs ;  of  others  where  they  have  claws  and 
feet  like  lions,  and  where  their  roaring  shakes  the  earth 
for  nine  miles  around.  He  will  be  solemnly  told  that  in 
Albania  all  the  men  are  born  with  white  hair ;  and  that  in 
Cappadocia  the  mares  bring  forth  colts  whose  paternity  is 
due  entirely  to  the  wind. 

He  will  believe  every  word  of  this  as  long  as  he  lives, 
because  he  saw  it  in  the  books.  If  he  should  dare  to 
say  he  thought  the  whole  thing  a  pack  of  lies,  bred  of 
ignorance  and  superstition,  the  teacher  would  probably 
flog  him  all  over  the  castle  and  back  again. 

It  has  ever  been  considered  an  outrageous  piece  of 
impudence  for  people,  especially  young  people,  to  cast 
doubt  upon  the  things  that  are  set  down  in  the  books. 

Above  all,  he  will  be  taught  the  use  of  arms.  The 
sword,  the  lance,  the  battle-axe,  he  must  master.  His 
strength,  his  activity,  his  skill  must  be  developed  in  the 
highest  possible  degree. 

The  knight  was  always  a  cavalryman.  He  never 
marched  or  fought  on  foot  when  it  could  be  avoided. 
Hence  to  know  everything  concerning  horsemanship  was 
absolutely  necessary. 

A  great  deal  of  the  hunting  in  those  days  was  done 
with  hawks  and  hounds.  He  was  therefore  taught  how 
to  capture  the  young  hawks,  how  to  rear  them,  how  to 
train  and  how  to  hunt  them.  The  sport  consisted  in  tak- 
ing a  tame  hawk,  duly  trained,  to  the  fields,  flying  it  at 


x  CHIVALRY  157 

such  game  as  was  started,  following  it  as  it  pursued, 
fought,  and  conquered  its  victim,  and  then  calling  it  back 
to  the  hand  until  other  game  should  be  found.  This 
barbarous  pastime  was  the  favourite  amusement  in  the 
Middle  Ages.  It  is  still  practised  in  some  Eastern  lands. 

From  the  age  of  fourteen  until  he  became  a  knight,  the 
young  man  whose  education  we  are  following  was  called  a 
squire. 

It  was  his  duty  to  attend  his  lord,  both  in  peace  and 
in  war.  He  must  look  after  the  horses,  curry  and  keep 
them  in  proper  form  for  use.  He  must  take  care  of  the 
armour  of  the  lord,  keep  his  sword  and  lance  in  good  order 
and  ready  for  any  call. 

He  must  follow  his  lord  on  the  march,  serving  him 
faithfully  in  all  his  needs.  When  battle  is  given,  he  must 
station  himself  just  in  the  rear ;  must  be  ready  to  supply 
his  lord  with  a  fresh  sword  or  lance  or  horse ;  must  care 
for  him  if  wounded ;  must  bear  his  body  from  the  field  if 
he  is  killed.  But  he  must  not,  as  a  rule,  join  in  the  fight 
himself,  unless  he  and  the  opposing  squires  should  happen 
to  clash. 

In  times  of  peace  the  squire  makes  himself  useful  and 
ornamental  about  the  castle.  He  blows  the  horn  for  din- 
ner. He  provides  water  to  bathe  the  hands  of  the  guests. 
He  sets  the  table,  carves  the  meat,  pours  the  wine,  hands 
the  bread. 

He  receives  the  visitors,  conducts  them  to  their  rooms 
in  the  castle,  and  attends  to  their  comfort.  When  the 
lord  wakes  up  of  mornings,  it  is  the  squire's  duty  to  dress 
him.  When  he  gets  drunk  at  dinner,  which  is  frequent, 
the  squire  must  see  him  put  to  bed  like  a  gentleman. 

To   brighten    up  the    other   side    of    the    picture,    the 


168  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

knights  were  in  the  habit  of  giving  them  the  prizes  won 
in  the  tournaments  and  battles. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-one,  as  a  general  thing,  the  order 
of  knighthood  was  formally  and  solemnly  conferred  upon 
the  squire.  This  rule  was  not  universal  or  arbitrary. 

Theodoric  said  of  the  Goths :  "  As  soon  as  a  young  bar- 
barian was  big  enough  to  fight,  he  became  of  age."  Size 
and  strength  and  courage,  therefore,  often  carried  boys  of 
fifteen  into  the  ranks  of  knighthood.  Some  special  deed 
of  daring  frequently  brought  the  youth  to  the  notice  of  his 
lord  or  king  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  the  golden  spurs 
and  the  consecrated  sword  would  be  his  reward.  "To 
win  his  spurs  "  by  gallant  service  was  the  burning  desire 
of  every  high-born  Frenchman,  and,  from  his  childhood,  it 
was  ever  in  his  thoughts. 

Let  us  witness  the  ceremonial  through  which  knight- 
hood is  entered  by  the  squire  whose  education  we  have 
been  following. 

Great  preparations  will  be  made  at  the  castle  for  the 
occasion.  There  will  be  much  expense  and  much  display. 

On  the  day  preceding  the  ceremony,  the  squire  will  put 
off  all  his  clothing  and  will  enter  the  bath,  which  is  sym- 
bolical of  purification.  On  leaving  the  bath  his  attendants 
will  clothe  him  in  a  white  tunic,  emblem  of  purity ;  in  a 
red  robe,  typifying  the  blood  he  will  shed  in  defence  of 
the  faith;  and  in  a  black,  close-fitting  coat,  a  reminder  of 
the  death  which  awaits  him,  as  well  as  all  men. 

Thus  clothed,  he  will  fast  for  twenty-four  hours.  When 
evening  comes,  having  confessed  his  sins,  he  enters  the 
church  to  pass  the  night  in  prayer. 

This  was  a  grand  idea  of  the  Catholic  Church.  If  any- 
thing on  earth  could  impress  upon  the  savage  warriors  of 


X  CHIVALRY  159 

those  days  the  solemnity  of  the  vows  of  chivalry,  this 
"  vigil  of  arms  "  would  do  it.  Fancy  the  young  man  stand- 
ing before  the  altar  in  the  lonely  church  all  night.  Candles 
burn  dimly  in  the  darkness  ;  the  silence  suggests  trains  of 
thought  which  come  at  no  other  time.  Just  outside  is  the 
quiet  graveyard,  where  his  ancestors  and  their  neighbours 
sleep.  Upon  the  altar  lies  his  armour,  awaiting  consecra- 
tion. The  candles  burn  dimly  on,  the  hours  move  by  on 
heavy  feet,  and  the  young  man  watches  and  prays  —  for 
he  must  watch  and  pray  until  morning  comes. 

Many  are  the  watchings  we  poor  mortals  undertake. 
We  watch  beside  the  bed  of  sickness,  in  the  house  of 
death;  we  stand  guard,  on  sentinel  service,  while  the 
army  sleeps ;  we  sit  in  the  pilot-house  as  the  hurrying 
vessel  ploughs  the  midnight  seas ;  we  drive  the  iron  horse 
through  sleeping  towns  and  country  homesteads,  splitting 
with  luminous  headlight  the  sullen  worlds  of  darkness; 
but  of  all  the  vigils  we  have  ever  taken,  few  can  rival,  in 
the  picture  they  fashion  in  the  mind,  that  of  the  lonely 
warrior  in  the  dim  and  solemn  sanctuary  of  the  ages 
long  ago. 

Dawn  comes  at  length  and  the  vigil  is  over.  The  priest 
arrives,  and  the  morning  service  of  the  church  begins. 

Having  heard  mass  and  received  the  cammuriion,  the 
tired  watcher  will  hurry  back  to  the  castle  and  enjoy  the 
breakfast  which  awaits  him  there. 

Then,  either  in  the  church  or  in  the  open  space  before 
the  castle,  the  company  will  assemble  to  witness  the 
initiation. 

The  priest  will  bless  the  sword,  and  the  candidate  kneel 
before  his  lord. 

High-born  friends  will  draw  near  and  put  the  armour 


160  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

on.  Golden  spurs  are  buckled  on  his  feet;  armour  is 
fastened  upon  his  body  and  limbs  until  he  is  completely 
enclosed  in  plates  of  steel.  There  is  a  plate  to  be  fastened 
on  the  chest,  one  on  the  back,  others  for  thighs  and  knees 
and  legs  and  arms.  They  will  be  so  nicely  joined  to- 
gether by  smaller  joints,  that  only  an  expert  with  the 
sword  or  lance  can  ever  penetrate  to  the  body  thus  de- 
fended. There  are  iron  coverings  for  the  feet  and  for  the 
head  and  face  and  neck.  When  all  this  heavy  metal  is 
strapped  on  he  will  be  one  of  the  queerest  looking  creatures 
that  ever  flourished.  If  he  should  ever  fall  flat  on  his 
back  it  will  require  much  scuffling  for  him  to  get  up  again. 

With  the  exception  of  two  holes  for  his  eyes  and 
others  to  breathe  through,  his  iron  case  is  complete.  His 
weapons  will  be  the  sword,  the  battle-axe,  the  mace,  and 
the  lance.  The  lance  was  a  long  wooden  pole,  usually 
made  out  of  ash,  and  pointed  with  steel  at  the  end.  It 
was  considered  the  greatest  triumph  to  run  the  pole 
through  the  body  of  some  other  knight  and  have  three 
or  four  feet  of  it  sticking  out  from  his  back.  To  ward 
off  these  lances,  he  will  have  a  metallic  shield,  almost  as 
big  as  a  barn  door,  which  he  will  hold  up  in  front  when 
the  other  fellow  lunges  at  him  with  the  iron-pointed  pole. 

We  will  now  suppose  that  the  armour  has  been  duly 
strapped  on. 

The  lord  then  rises,  and,  with  the  flat  of  the  sword, 
strikes  him  lightly  three  times  on  the  shoulder,  saying, 
"  In  the  name  of  God,  St.  Michael,  and  St.  George,  I  make 
thee  a  knight.  Be  valiant,  bold,  and  loyal." 

Then  the  helmet  is  put  on  his  head,  a  horse  is  led  up, 
and,  if  he  wishes  to  win  praise,  he  leaps  to  the  saddle 
without  touching  foot  to  stirrup.  This  ends  the  ceremony, 


x  CHIVALRY  161 

but  he  will  take  part  in  a  sham  fight,  or  he  will  gallop 
about  showing  off  his  skill,  to  please  the  spectators  and 
win  their  applause. 

The  knight  has  to  swear  to  the  following  articles :  — • 

1.  To  believe  all  that  the  Church  teaches  and  to  obey 
its  directions. 

2.  To  defend  the  Church,  the  widow,  and  the  orphan. 

3.  To  defend  the  weak. 

4.  To  love  his  native  land. 

5.  To  avoid  a  retreat  from  an  enemy. 

6.  To  war  against  the  infidels  constantly  and  without 
mercy. 

7.  To  perform  all  feudal  duties. 

8.  To  keep  his  pledges  and  never  lie. 

9.  To  be  generous  and  charitable. 

10.  To  be,  always  and  everywhere,  a  champion  of  the 
right  and  the  good  against  injustice  and  evil. 

Here  then  the  Catholic  Church  furnished  its  ideal  to  the 
soldier.  Finding  him  brutalized  and  brutalizing,  finding 
him  bent  upon  rapine  and  slaughter  all  his  days,  selfish, 
bestial,  and  inhumanely  cruel,  it  sought  to  elevate  him, 
by  giving  the  noblest  aims  and  methods  to  his  chosen 
profession. 

Though  the  chivalry  created  a  caste,  and  to  that  extent 
was  vicious;  though  it  sought  to  devote  the  passion  of 
war  and  the  practice  of  bloodshed  to  motives  and  methods 
of  purity,  and  to  that  extent  was  unnatural,  —  yet  it 
was  immensely  superior  to  the  order  of  things  that  went 
before.  It  gave  the  world  romantic  theories  of  courage, 
generosity,  self-sacrifice,  patriotism,  and  devotion  to  duty, 
which  were  new  to  it ;  and  which,  even  to  this  day,  colour 
the  thoughts,  the  speech,  and  the  deeds  of  men. 


162  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

In  the  annals  of  the  brave  there  are  no  brighter  records 
than  those  of  the  knights  who  loved  their  order  and  gave 
their  lives  to  its  vows.  Roland  and  Oliver,  whose  fame  is 
linked  with  that  of  Charlemagne,  and  whose  death  gave 
immortality  to  the  ambuscade  at  Roncesvalles ;  Tancred 
and  Godfrey,  whose  glory  is  embalmed  in  Tasso's  great  epic 
of  "  Jerusalem  Delivered " ;  Bertrand  Du  Guesclin,  the 
national  hero  of  France ;  Chevalier  Bayard,  the  knight 
without  fear  and  without  reproach,  —  these  are  some  of 
the  splendid  soldiers  whose  lives  made  their  order  illus- 
trious, and  made  the  word  chivalrous  a  term  of  com- 
pliment which  brings  the  honest  flush  of  pride  and 
pleasure  to  the  cheeks  of  gallant  men  even  in  our  own 
times. 

Ringing  down  the  ages  came  this  thrilling  conception 
of  true  courage,  than  which  mortal  man  can  have  no 
higher :  It  is  not  death  the  soldier  fears,  but  dishonour ! 

Blazing  on  every  page  of  ritual  or  of  annals,  was  this 
golden  line,  fixing  the  high-water  mark  beyond  which  self- 
consecration  cannot  rise :  Be  thou  the  defender  and  the 
champion  of  the  Church,  the  widow,  and  the  orphan ! 

In  those  barbarous  days  of  private  and  public  feud, 
foreign  and  domestic  war,  the  cry  of  the  widow  and  the 
orphan  must  have  been  heard  constantly  in  all  the  land ; 
and  the  historian  gives  ungrudging  praise  to  the  men  of 
God  who  stayed  with  vows  and  with  stern  injunctions  the 
hand  of  the  marauder,  and  put  his  sword  to  their  defence. 

What  made  the  pass  at  Roncesvalles  the  Thermopylae 
of  the  Middle  Ages  ?  It  was  the  sublime  courage  of  the 
knights  who  died,  to  a  man,  making  good  the  defence  of 
the  rear-guard  of  Charlemagne's  army  against  sudden  and 
overwhelming  assault.  No  wonder  the  cheeks  of  the 


x  CHIVALRY  163 

great  emperor  were  wet  with  tears  as  he  came  back  with 
avenging  hosts  next  day  and  marked  where  the  brave 
men  fought  and  fell.  Not  one  had  sought  to  fly.  Not 
one  had  sounded  the  horn  for  relief.  Duty  called  for  their 
lives,  and  each  warrior  had  answered  "  Here  !  " 

On  the  monument  erected  at  Thermopylae  were  these 
words :  "  Go  tell  those  at  Sparta  that  we  lie  here  in  obedi- 
ence to  her  law."  High  is  the  pinnacle  upon  which 
humanity  towers,  when  it  so  teaches,  so  lives,  and  so 
dies. 

But  Roland,  lying  on  the  rocks  of  Roncesvalles,  "his 
gauntlet  outstretched  to  God,"  his  comrades  lying  bloody 
and  motionless  around  him,  are  equally  the  types  of  heroic 
self-sacrifice. 

"  See,  death  approaches  !  But,  as  brave  men,  let  us  die 
fighting ! " 

And  thus  they  fell. 

Every  song  of  chivalry  was  pitched  to  this  strain; 
Combat  all  evil;  defend  all  good.  Even  the  double- 
edged  sword  was  emblematic  :  "  With  one  side  thou  must 
strike  the  rich  who  oppress  the  poor;  with  the  other, 
punish  the  strong  who  persecute  the  weak." 

Chivalry  decayed,  as  all  human  institutions  decay. 
Wealth  and  power  corrupted  and  enervated  its  members. 
Kings  grew  jealous  of  some  of  the  orders  and  put  them 
down.  Standing  in  the  way  of  the  advancement  of  the 
lower  classes,  they  became  obstacles  to  progress.  When 
gunpowder  was  invented  and  the  coat  of  mail  was  found 
to  be  no  defence  against  bullets,  the  infantry  militia,  mus- 
tered from  the  commons,  had  little  difficulty  in  overthrow- 
ing the  mail-clad  cavalry  of  the  aristocrats. 

Chivalry,  as  an  institution,  had  lived  out  its  day ;  and 


164  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP,  x 

the  armour  of  the  knight  was  hung  up  on  the  castle  walls, 
to  be  taken  down  no  more.  No  longer  waved  his  plumes 
along  the  ruddy  tide  of  battle ;  no  longer  did  his  silken 
banner  mark  the  path  where  the  bravest  loved  to  fight. 

In  the  fervid  lines  of  the  poet,  on  stirring  pages  of 
romance,  the  knight  might  still  ride,  boldly  ride,  seeking 
adventures ;  might  still  rescue  captive  maidens,  challenge 
to  mortal  combat  the  widow's  oppressor,  restore  with 
valiant  sword  the  orphan's  patrimony ;  might  still  pursue 
infidels  in  far  Eastern  lands,  or  do  battle  at  home  for 
Church  and  king. 

But  in  actual  life  he  moved  no  more. 

Deep  down  under  the  past  lies  the  old  feudalism,  and  its 
highest  development,  Chivalry.  Ivy  grows  green  around 
the  ruined  castle  wall.  The  owls  and  the  bats  are  in  the 
guest-chamber,  little  disturbed  by  the  ghostly  memories 
which  hang  about  the  place.  Out  in  the  courtyard  where 
the  pages  and  squires  used  to  brawl  or  sport  is  a  wilder- 
ness of  rubbish  and  desolation. 

The  king  who  prized  their  valour ;  the  lady  who  smiled 
upon  it  and  rewarded  it ;  the  enemies  who  hated  them  and 
feared  them;  the  friends  who  loved  them  and  trusted 
them ;  the  priest  who  prayed  for  them  and  relied  upon 
them;  the  widow  and  the  orphan  who  sought  them  and 
found  them;  the  poor  to  whom  they  cast  occasional  pence, 
and  who  passed  all  their  stupid  days  admiring  them  and 
supporting  them ;  the  minstrel  who  sang  their  praises,  the 
herald  who  noted  their  deeds  —  all,  all  are  gone,  forever 

gone. 

"  The  knights  are  dust, 

And  their  good  swords  are  rust, 
Their  souls  are  with  the  saints,  we  trust." 


CHAPTER  XI 

LOUIS    THE    FAT    TO    PHILIP    THE    FAIR 

REFORMS  IN  GOVERNMENT  AND  DECLINE  OF  FEUDALISM 

(1108-1814) 

T  GUIS  THE  FAT  came  to  the  throne  at  a  time  when   A.D. 
its  very   existence   was   threatened.     His   immediate    1108 
predecessors  had  been  such  weaklings  that  royal  authority 
had  sunk  to  the  lowest  point,  and  the  kingdom  was  a 
pitiable  scene  of  disorder  and  wretchedness. 

The  feudal  lords  had  become  robbers  as  well  as  tyrants. 
They  imprisoned  merchants  and  travellers  in  their  castles, 
and  refused  to  liberate  them  without  the  payment  of 
large  ransom.  If  the  merchant  was  a  little  slow  in 
coming  to  terms,  they  helped  him  to  a  decision  by  mash- 
ing his  feet  in  an  iron  vise,  by  crushing  his  thumbs  in  a 
thumb-screw,  or  by  roasting  him  over  a  slow  fire.  They 
also  robbed  the  churches,  and  ill-treated  the  clergy. 

Louis  the  Fat  made  common  cause  with  the  clergy  who 
were  outraged  by  the  plundering  of  churches,  and  with 
the  town  people  who  were  tired  of  being  robbed  ;  and  he 
made  successful  war  upon  the  feudal  aristocracy.  He 
was  ever  on  horseback,  lance  in  hand,  leading  his  forces 
against  lawless  barons,  storming  their  castles,  and  dis- 
persing their  ruffian  bands.  While  many  of  the  lords 
were  ruining  themselves  to  join  in  the  crusades,  Louis 
the  Fat  stayed  at  home,  husbanded  his  resources,  and  took 

166 


166  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

the  side  of  the  people  against  feudal  oppression.  From 
his  reign  dates  the  ardent  attachment  of  the  French  to 
their  king. 

In  return  for  help  which  the  king  received  from  the 
workmen  of  the  towns,  he  granted  them  charters  which 
allowed  them  self-government,  and  exempted  them  from 
the  hateful  power  and  the  hateful  taxes  of  the  feudal 
lords.  From  this  time  commerce  began  to  flourish  and 
the  merchants  and  towns  to  grow  rich.  The  roads 
began  to  be  safe  for  travellers  and  the  country  to  be 
orderly. 

The  city  of  Paris  is  now  the  most  splendid  in  the 
world  ;  but  in  those  days  its  trade  was  unimportant,  its 
buildings  were  shabby,  and  its  streets  were  narrow,  dirty, 
A-D-  and  full  of  pigs.  In  the  year  1131  the  oldest  son  of  the 
king  was  riding  through  Paris  and  one  of  these  pigs  ran 
between  the  legs  of  the  prince's  horse,  causing  him  to 
fall.  The  young  man  was  so  badly  hurt  that  he  died 
in  a  few  hours. 

A  D         In  this  reign  the  schools  of  Paris  won  great  celebrity. 
1101        Abelard,  a  scholar  famous  for  his  genius,  learning,  and 
misfortunes,  filled  Europe  with  his  fame,  and  attracted 
immense  numbers  of  students  to  France. 

Abelard  was  the  pioneer  of  free  thought.  He  chal- 
lenged accepted  errors,  threw  the  luminous  spear  of 
inquiry  against  the  shield  of  orthodox  dulness,  and 
made  it  ring  throughout  Christendom.  Along  the  lines 
of  respectable  mediocrity  ran  a  shiver  of  alarm.  The 
owls  that  drowsily  sat  upon  the  dead  limbs  of  the  tree 
of  knowledge  woke  to  sudden  life,  and  united  in  a  startled 
hoot. 

Abelard  was  pounced  upon  and  crushed.     They  found 


xi  LOUIS  THE  FAT  TO  PHILIP  THE   FAIR  167 

that  he,  a  scholar  and  teacher,  loved  Heloise,  his  pupil,  a 
girl  of  beauty  and  rare  accomplishments ;  and  that  she 
loved  him.  They  found  that  nature  and  love  had  carried 
the  brilliant  teacher  and  his  lovely  pupil  beyond  the  limits 
of  Platonic  affection  ;  in  fact,  there  was  a  child.  Great 
was  the  pity  of  it,  great  was  the  sin,  great  was  the 
clamour. 

Ruffian  enemies  broke  in  upon  Abelard  at  night,  struck 
him  down,  and  inflicted  upon  him  a  grievous  injury.  He 
survived,  but  his  manhood  and  his  courage  were  gone, 
and  when  he  arose  in  after  years  to  defend  himself  from 
Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  his  rival  and  his  foe,  —  to  defend 
himself,  in  grand  council,  in  presence  of  his  king  and  all 
the  attendant  lords  and  ladies  of  the  realm,  —  the  great 
orator's  fire  had  left  him ;  he  rose,  stammered,  turned 
pale,  trembled  like  a  leaf,  and  sat  down,  disgraced. 

His  book  was  condemned  and  burned ;  the  Council  of 
Sens  pronounced  censure  upon  him,  and  two  years  after- 
wards he  died  (1142),  a  lonely,  friendless,  heart-broken 
monk. 

His  ashes  were  claimed  by  Heloise,  who  had  become 
the  most  devout  of  nuns ;  and  these  two,  at  length,  found 
rest  beneath  the  same  tomb. 

After    greatly    augmenting    the    royal    authority   and    A.D. 

1 1  ^7 

wealth,  Louis  the  Fat  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
son,  Louis  VII. 

During   this   reign   the  second  crusade  was   preached    A.D. 
by  the  celebrated  Bernard;  and  the  Christian  forces  were 
led  by  the  king  himself.     The  result  was  so  shamefully 
disastrous  that  Louis  returned  to  France  in  the  utmost 
discredit. 

His  queen,   Eleanor   of   Aquitaine,   who   had   brought 


168  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

him  a  magnificent  dowry,  became  disgusted  with  him 
— and  he  with  her ;  a  divorce  was  pronounced,  soon  after 
which  she  carried  her  dowry  and  her  hand  to  Henry 
Plantagenet,  afterwards  king  of  England  under  the  name 
of  Henry  II. 

By  this  marriage,  so  fatal  to  France,  Henry  became  the 
lord  of  provinces  which,  added  to  his  own,  made  him 
more  powerful  than  the  king.  Anjou,  Maine,  Touraine, 
Poitou,  Aquitaine,  and  Normandy  were  all  his,  and  had 
not  his  ambition  led  him  toward  England  first,  Louis  VII. 
would  probably  have  been  dethroned  by  his  powerful  vas- 
sal and  his  resentful,  ambitious  wife.  Happily  for  France, 
Henry  gave  deadly  offence  to  the  entire  Christian  world 
by  his  instigation  of  the  murder  of  Archbishop  Becket, 
and  the  balance  of  his  life  was  clouded  with  failure  and 
family  strife. 

Louis  VII.  continued  his  father's  policy,  seconded  the 
growth  of  the  communes,  laid  a  heavy  hand  upon  certain 
rebellious  nobles,  and  added  to  the  royal  domains.  Many 
towns  were  built  during  his  reign,  and  much  land  cleared 
for  cultivation.  These  internal  improvements  were 
chiefly  due  to  the  Abbot  Suger,  who  was  the  regent  of 
the  kingdom  during  the  absence  of  the  king,  and  the 
most  influential  adviser  before  and  after  that  event. 

These  communes  were  the  first  great  barriers  against 
feudal  tyranny.  Within  the  towns,  where  peaceful  in- 
dustries began  to  flourish,  there  came  an  irresistible 
demand  for  security.  Merchants  and  artisans  grew  tired 
of  being  robbed  by  the  lord  of  the  castle.  A  common 
necessity  drew  the  citizens  into  organization  for  defence. 
Guilds  were  formed,  brotherhood  cultivated,  an  oath  of 
mutual  support  sworn,  arms  collected,  a  big  bell  hung 


xi  LOUIS   THE   FAT  TO  PHILIP  THE  FAIR  169 

aloft  in  the  tower  of  the  town  hall  to  summon  the  com- 
mune at  the  approach  of  danger,  and  all  things  made 
ready  to  give  my  lord  of  the  castle  a  hot  reception  the 
next  time  he  swooped  down  from  his  hill-fortress  to  loot 
the  town. 

These  communal  organizations  were  not  democratic  in 
form  or  spirit.  In  the  town  itself  there  were  higher 
orders  and  lower  orders  ;  rich  and  poor,  privileged  and 
unprivileged.  Only  the  wealthier  citizens  and  the  more 
important  trades  had  a  share  in  the  city  government. 
The  communes  were  based  upon  principles  aristocratic 
rather  than  democratic.  Consequently,  fierce  contentions 
frequently  raged,  the  lower  orders  clamouring  for  admis- 
sion into  the  communal  privileges,  powers,  and  benefits,  and 
the  upper  classes  resisting  the  demand.  Not  only  did  the 
communes  resist  the  feudal  lord,  they  opposed  also  the 
domination  of  the  clergy.  Hence  they  antagonized  two 
very  powerful  influences.  It  is  true  that  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  communes  gradually  sank  under  the  ascen- 
dency of  royal  power,  but  they  had  done  a  most  important 
work  ;  they  had  broken  the  spell  of  feudal  terror,  revived 
the  spirit  of  commerce,  and  given  the  first  impulse  to 
manufactures. 

Philip  Augustus  succeeded  Louis  VII.  (1180).     Under 
his  government  royal  authority  rapidly  grew.     He  wrested   118° 
Normandy  from  the  English,  built  colleges,  schools,  and 
churches,  humbled   the  nobles,  and  increased   the   royal 
domain. 

In  his  reign  occurred  the  Albigensian  crusade.  In 
Languedoc  lived  a  cultured,  prosperous  people,  who  had 
built  flourishing  cities,  and  had  created  a  civilization 
superior  to  that  of  northern  France. 


A.D. 


170  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

But  they  were  heretics.  They  did  not  obey  the  Pope. 
They  denied  his  supremacy,  refused  to  pay  him  tribute, 
and  declared  that  the  worship  of  images  was  idolatry  — 
just  as  Charlemagne  had  done.  They  also  denied  the 
Real  Presence  in  the  Eucharist ;  that  is,  they  denied  that 
sacramental  wine  and  bread  became  the  actual  flesh  and 
blood  of  Christ. 

A.D.  A  "holy  war"  was  preached  against  these  people. 
To  the  feudal  chiefs  who  agreed  to  march  against  them 
the  Pope  promised  to  give  the  lands  taken ;  to  the  sol- 
diers who  would  serve  forty  days  was  promised  full  par- 
don for  all  sins  that  they  had  ever  committed. 

On  these  fair  terms  multitudes  of  men  were  eager  to 
purchase  passage  to  heaven,  and  a  great  army  was  organ- 
ized, and  put  under  command  of  Simon  de  Montfort. 
Languedoc  was  laid  in  waste,  its  homes  burnt,  its  people 
butchered.  The  cruel  contest  lasted  twenty  years.  As 
an  example  of  the  barbarous  spirit  in  which  this  "  holy 
war"  was  fought,  we  are  told  that  when  the  town  of 
Beziers  was  attacked,  one  of  the  officers  asked  the  abbot 
of  Citeaux  how  they  were  to  tell  the  heretics  from  the 
true  believers  in  the  town.  "  Kill  them  all,"  replied  this 
gentle  disciple  of  the  Prince  of  Peace,  "  for  the  Lord  will 
know  those  that  are  his." 

The  savage  order  was  savagely  executed.  Not  a  man, 
or  woman,  or  child  was  left  alive. 

The  territory  thus  taken  was  given  by  the  Pope  to 
Simon  de  Montfort,  the  chief  robber  and  murderer. 

He  did  not  live  long  to  enjoy  his  bloody  spoils.  As 
he  was  riding  under  the  walls  of  Toulouse,  which  he  was 
besieging,  a  stone,  shot  from  one  of  the  engines  on  the 
walls,  killed  him. 


xi  LOUIS  THE  FAT  TO  PHILIP  THE  FAIR  171 

Philip  Augustus  refused  to  lend  a  hand  in  this  bloody 
business,  although  the  Pope  imperiously  urged  him  to  do 
so.  In  fact  he  was  the  first  of  the  French  kings,  after 
Charlemagne,  who  displayed  a  genius  for  order,  reform, 
and  royal  independence.  He  repressed  the  barons,  and 
resisted  with  firmness  the  domination  of  the  Church. 

For  putting  away  his  wife,  Ingeborg  of  Denmark,  and 
marrying  the  beautiful  Agnes  of  Meranie,  he  fell  under 
the  papal  ban,  was  excommunicated,  and  the  kingdom  laid 
under  an  interdict. 

Philip  defied  the  Pope,  and  continued  to  live  with 
Agnes;  but  the  conscience  of  the  nation  was  troubled, 
and  finally  the  king,  after  a  struggle  of  eight  years, 
yielded  —  for  in  truth  his  case  was  indefensible.  The 
Pope,  in  pity  for  Agnes,  who  had  acted  in  good  faith, 
and  was  a  lovable  woman,  legitimatized  her  two  children, 
but  she  herself  died  under  the  blow. 

Philip  Augustus  showed  a  crafty  skill  in  creating 
trouble  for  his  neighbours.  He  kept  the  royal  family 
of  England  in  perpetual  discord,  first  urging  the  sons 
of  Henry  II.  to  make  war  on  their  father  ;  and,  after 
the  death  of  the  father,  sowing  dissension  among  the 
sons.  By  these  shameful  acts  he  finally  won  back 
Normandy  from  the  Norman  dukes,  after  they  had  held 
it  three  hundred  years. 

Philip  was  severe  on  blasphemers  ;  the  rich  he  fined 
twenty  golden  sous,  the  poor  he  flung  into  the  river. 

Against  Jews  he  had  all  of  the  mediaeval  prejudice  ;  he 
stripped  them  of  their  wealth,  and  drove  them  out  of  France. 

As  a  warrior,  Philip  gained  renown  at  the  battle  of  A.D. 
Bouvines  (1214),  where  he  defeated  the  Flemings  under  1214 
the  emperor  of  Germany,  Otto  IV. 


172  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

In  the  crusades,  however,  he  had  been  overshadowed 
by  the  superior  personal  and  warlike  qualities  of  Richard 
Coaur  de  Lion,  and  the  quarrels  of  the  two  kings  brought 
division  of  counsel  and  failure  to  the  enterprise. 

He  died  in  1223,  having  added  to  his  dominions  Nor- 
mandy, Anjou,  Touraine,  Poitou,  Vermandois,  Artois, 
Amienois,  and  part  of  Auvergne.  His  reign  greatly 
strengthened  the  royal  power,  for  he  called  in  the  troops 
of  the  communes  to  aid  him  in  his  struggles  against  the 
nobles,  checked  the  pretensions  and  limited  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  ecclesiastical  courts,  repressed  feudal  aggres- 
sions, and  enforced  the  jurisdiction  of  his  own  courts  and 
his  own  ordinances. 
A-D-  Louis  VIII.,  son  and  successor  of  Philip  Augustus, 

I223  J  1          4.1, 

reigned  only  three  years. 

Continuing  his  father's  policy,  Louis  besieged  and  took 
several  important  towns  which  had  remained  in  possession 
of  the  English. 

Urged  thereto  by  the  Pope,  he  renewed  the  Albigensian 

crusade,  led  an  army  of  fifty  thousand  men  to  the  south 

of  France,  the  expressed  purpose  of  the  campaign  being 

to   root   the   heretics   out   of    the    land.      Avignon   was 

besieged,  taken,  and  sacked,   its   defenders   hanged,   its 

fortifications  dismantled.     He   was   preparing   to   march 

A.D.    against  Toulouse  to  inflict  upon  it  a  similar  fate,  when 

1226    the  pestilence  which  raged  in  his  army  struck  him  down, 

and  he  died  at  Montpensier  (1226). 

Louis  IX.  was  only  twelve  years  of  age  at  his  father's 
death  ;  and  his  mother,  Blanche  of  Castile,  assumed  the 
regency. 

For  nine  years  she  ruled  the  kingdom,  and  ruled  it 
wisely.  The  feudal  lords  conspired  against  her  and 


xi  LOUIS  THE  FAT  TO  PHILIP  THE  FAIK  173 

rebelled,  but  she  put  them  down,  partly  by  force  and 
partly  by  good  management. 

She  secured  to  the  crown  by  treaty  with  Raymond  of    A.D. 
Toulouse  (1229)  the  cession  of  Lower  Languedoc  ;  and 
she  reduced  the   Dukes   of   Burgundy  and   Brittany   to 
obedience. 

She  was  an  able  ruler,  not  free  from  guile  or  cruelty,  but 
guided,  in  the  main,  by  high  motives  of  State. 

Her  son,  known  to  history  as  St.  Louis,  deferred  to 
her  very  much  even  after  he  became  of  age,  and  she  re- 
mained virtual  ruler  of  the  kingdom  as  long  as  she  lived. 

Louis  led  an  army  to  the  East  in  1248,  in  the  vain  at- 
tempt to  drive  Mohammed's  disciples  out  of  Palestine. 
Landing  in  Egypt,  he  met  with  nothing  but  misfortunes. 
The  bulk  of  his  army  was  destroyed  either  by  sword  or 
pestilence,  and  the  king  himself  was  made  prisoner  by 
the  infidels. 

For  the  sum  of  $2,000,000  they  agreed  to  release  Louis    A.D. 
and  the  remnant  of  his  forces.     The  French  people  loyally   1252 
raised  the  money  and  paid  the  ransom.     So  hard  was  it 
to  find  so  much  coin  in  France  that  they  even  had  to 
melt  down  the  silver  railings  around  the  tomb  of  Richard 
the  Lion- Hearted,  at  Rouen,  and  turn  them  into  money. 

Returning  to  France,  Louis  found  his  mother  dead, 
and  his  kingdom  deplorably  disordered.  He  set  to  work, 
at  once,  to  pacify,  reform,  strengthen,  and  develop.  He 
made  peace  with  England,  abolished  trial  by  combat  in 
his  own  domains  and  thus  set  the  example  for  his  barons, 
extended  the  jurisdiction  of  his  courts,  encouraged  ap- 
peals from  the  barons  in  their  courts  to  the  judges  in  his 
own,  sent  royal  commissioners  through  all  the  provinces, 
as  Charlemagne  had  done,  to  defend  his  own  rights  and 


174  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

those  of  his  subjects ;  he  fostered  the  cities,  not  as  in- 
dependent corporations,  but  as  feudal  bodies,  enjoying 
local  self-government,  but  dependent  on  the  supreme 
royal  power. 

He  found  eighty-four  bishops  and  lords  exercising  the 
right  to  coin  money.  He  confined  this  money  to  the 
dominions  of  the  noble  who  coined  it,  prescribed  its 
weight  and  fineness,  and,  at  the  same  time,  decreed  that 
his  own  money  should  be  received  throughout  the  realm. 
Thus  France  had,  at  last,  a  national  currency. 

A  more  devoted  son  of  the  Church  than  St.  Louis  never 
lived,  but  his  sense  of  right  was  as  strong  as  his  religion, 
and  he  made  the  Church  contribute  to  the  support  of  the 
government  by  the  payment  of  tithes  and  other  taxes. 

He  established  a  public  library  at  Paris,  and  the  first 

A.D.    hospital  for  the  blind.     A  theological  seminary,  the  Sor- 

1253   bonne,  so  named  after  its  founder,  Robert  de  Sorbon,  came 

into  existence  at  this  time,  and  soon  began  to  exert  vast 

influence  upon  public  sentiment. 

The  tongues  of  blasphemers  St.  Louis  caused  to  be 
pierced  with  red-hot  needles ;  and  all  men  who  took  in- 
terest on  loans  were  usurers  in  his  sight,  and  hateful. 
He  seized  upon  one  hundred  and  fifty  bankers,  at  one  time, 
and  flung  them  into  dungeons,  because  they  had  loaned 
money  at  interest. 

St.  Louis  was  a  marvellous  king,  a  marvellous  man. 
He  loved  justice,  was  prone  to  mercy  and  good  works, 
held  every  son  of  God  to  be  his  brother,  and  delighted 
to  make  peace  instead  of  war.  He  voluntarily  gave  up 
certain  domains  which  he  thought  his  predecessors  had 
unjustly  taken  from  England ;  and,  while  full  of  courage 
and  ready  to  fight,  if  need  be,  conciliation  was  pref- 


xi  LOUIS  THE  FAT  TO  PHILIP  THE  FAIR  175 

erable  to  him  before  the  battle,  and  reconciliation 
afterwards. 

He  made  it  a  rule  to  feed  one  hundred  and  twenty  beg- 
gars every  day,  and  three  of  them  were  brought  in  to  eat 
at  the  same  time  with  the  king  himself,  and  in  the  same 
room.  "  Many  a  time,"  says  Joinville,  "  I  saw  him  cut 
their  bread  and  give  them  to  drink." 

In  person  he  listened  to  those  who  appealed  to  the 
king's  justice.  Seated  in  his  garden  in  Paris  or  under 
some  great  tree  in  the  wood  of  Vincennes,  the  good  king 
would  listen  patiently  to  the  poorest  suitor,  and  promptly 
adjudge  his  case. 

Mixing  freely  with  his  people,  and  constantly  moving 
about  among  them,  he  knew  them  as  they  actually  were. 
He  loved  them,  and  was  loved  by  them,  most  sincerely. 
He  visited  the  sick,  fed  the  poor,  redressed  wrongs,  cor- 
rected abuses,  and  was  a  Christian  king,  if  ever  there  was 
one,  in  spite  of  his  prejudice  against  bankers. 

By  an  act  known  as  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  he  secured 
the  liberties  of  the  French  Church  from  papal  exactions, 
—  making  it  illegal  for  the  Pope  to  levy  any  tax  upon 
French  prelates  without  the  royal  assent,  and  prescribing 
certain  cases  in  which  appeals  might  be  taken  from  the 
ecclesiastical  to  the  royal  courts. 

After  sixteen  years  of  prosperous  administration  in 
France,  he  was  seized  with  another  attack  of  the  crusad- 
ing fever;  and,  in  spite  of  the  urgent  entreaties  of  his 
friends,  he  raised  an  army,  and  set  out  upon  the  eighth 
and  last  crusade. 

He  landed  in  Africa,  on  his  way  to  Palestine,  and  laid 
siege  to  Tunis. 

Sickness  soon  began  to  destroy  his  troops.     It  entered 


176  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

his  own  family,  and  was  fatal  to  one  of  his  sons.  Then 
the  king  was  stricken.  Finding  himself  at  the  point  of 
death,  he  bade  his  attendants  lay  him  upon  a  bed  of  ashes. 

In  this  lowly  posture  the  good  king  died,  saying,  "  I 
will  enter  thy  house,  O  Lord  ;  I  will  worship  in  thy  holy 
tabernacle." 

A.D.  Louis  IX.,  or  St.  Louis,  was  succeeded  (1270)  by  his 
son  Philip  the  Hardy,  or  Bold.  Historians  fail  to  dis- 
cover why  he  was  called  either  hardy  or  bold.  In  fact, 
it  is  difficult  to  name  anything  he  did,  or  anything  he 
said,  which  deserves  rescue  from  oblivion.  He  lived, 
reigned,  and  died  —  such  seems  to  be  all  there  is  in  the 
record. 

A.D.        It  was  during  his   time  that   the   Sicilians   organized 

1282   against  the  French  that  massacre  which  is  known  as  the 

Sicilian   Vespers  —  a   murder   of    one   entire    people    by 

another.     The  evening  bell  for  vespers  was  the  signal  for 

the  assassins  to  begin  their  bloody  task  —  hence  the  name. 

Philip  the  Hardy  died  in  1285,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Philip  the  Fair,  a  great  king,  and  a  great  criminal. 

He  was  active  and  successful ;  was  cruel,  proud,  treach- 
erous, and  avaricious.  He  plundered  his  subjects,  made 
them  pay  heavy  taxes,  debased  the  gold  and  silver  money, 
by  melting  it  down  and  putting  baser  metals  with  it,  in 
recoinage. 

To  get  rid  of  a  mortgage  which  the  late  king  had  given 
the  Italian  bankers,  Philip  seized  all  the  Italian  merchants 
and  bankers  who  were  in  France,  threatened  them  with 
torture,  and  forced  them  to  redeem  themselves  at  an 
immense  price.  His  pretext  was  that  the  Italians  were 
usurers. 

Pleased  with  the  result  of  this  expedient,  he  repeated 


aci  LOUIS  THE  FAT  TO  PHILIP  THE  FAIR  177 

it  on  Frenchmen,  and  found  it  to  work  equally  well.  In 
this  manner  he  opened  up  new  sources  of  revenue  hith- 
erto unknown  in  France. 

He  asked  the  Pope's  consent  to  levy  a  tax  on  the  clergy 
for  the  purpose  of  raising  money  for  a  crusade.  The 
Pope  consented,  and  Philip  came  down  upon  the  clergy 
with  a  grievous  tax.  They  paid,  with  heavy  hearts,  and 
then  the  king  did  not  go  upon  the  crusade. 

Suspecting  that  the  wives  of  his  three  sons  were  un- 
faithful, he  threw  them  into  prison,  and,  seizing  the 
supposed  lovers,  had  them  flayed  alive. 

He  arrested,  in  one  day,  all  the  Jews  in  the  kingdom, 
threw  them  into  prison,  and  confiscated  their  wealth. 

Philip,  however,  gave  a  decided  halt  to  papal  aggres- 
sions and  to  feudal  power. 

He  was  the  first  French  king  after  Charles  the  Great 
who  successfully  defied  the  Pope  ;  and  he  was  the  first 
who  called  into  the  national  assembly  deputies  from  the 
towns. 

He  excluded  priests  from  the  administration  of  justice, 
barring  them  out  of  his  own  courts  and  those  of  the 
barons  ;  and  he  levied  such  heavy  taxes  upon  the  estates 
given  to  the  Church  that  such  estates  became  more  profit- 
able to  him  than  to  the  Church. 

Having   arrested   the   bishop   of   Pamiers   for    reasons 
sufficient  to  himself,  Philip  demanded  of  the  Pope,  Boni- 
face VIII.,  the  prelate's  degradation.     Instead  of  yield- 
ing to  this  demand,  the  Pope  launched  an  admonitory 
bull   against    Philip.       The   king   assembled   the    States    A.D. 
General  (1302),  appealed  to  their  loyalty  and  national   1302 
pride,  secured  their  support,  and  publicly  burnt  the  bull 
in  their  presence. 


178  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

The  Pope,  furious  at  this  unheard-of  irreverence,  ex- 
communicated the  king.  Not  at  all  scared,  Philip  called 
up  his  barons,  and  got  them  to  declare  the  Pope  a  heretic. 

Armed  with  this  sentence,  the  king  arrested  the  Pope, 

and  one  of  the  royal  agents,  Colonna  by  name,  struck  the 

aged   prelate    with   his   iron   gauntlet.      The   Pope   was 

courageous  and  defiant,  and  the   people   soon   rose   and 

set  him  free  ;  but  he  had  received  such  a  shock  at  the 

unexpected  turn  things  had  taken,  and  was  so  inflamed 

A  D.    by  rage  and  shame,  that  he  fell  into  a  fever,  and  died  at 

1303    Rome  a  month  afterwards  (1303). 

Philip,  completely  victorious,  was  soon  able  to  secure 
the  election  of  a  Pope  entirely  devoted,  by  a  special 
agreement,  to  himself. 

This  was  Clement  V.  who  was  elected  in  1305  on  the 
death  of  Benedict  XI. 

The  most  memorable  episode  of  Philip's  reign  was  his 
destruction  of  the  Templars. 

These  soldiers  of  the  cross  had  been  organized  and 
inspired  by  the  famous  St.  Bernard,  and  they  had  borne 
the  brunt  of  the  fighting  in  the  crusades  for  two  cen- 
turies. While  the  Christian  kingdom  in  Palestine  en- 
dured, they  had  been  the  dread  of  the  Saracens  and  the 
hope  of  the  crusaders.  They  formed  a  knightly  caste 
apart,  consecrated  to  special  work  and  enjoying  special 
privileges.  They  were  exempt  from  all  customs,  toll, 
and  tribute ;  they  were  judges  in  their  own  causes,  the 
final  appeal  being  to  the  Pope  ;  they  dispensed  with  the 
absolutions  of  priests,  for  the  masters  in  the  order  exer- 
cised that  power  themselves. 

That  such  an  order  should  become  too  strong  and 
provoke  jealousy  was  natural.  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion 


xi  LOUIS  THE  FAT  TO  PHILIP  THE  FAIR  170 

hated  them,  and  said,  when  dying,  "I  leave  my  avarice 
to  the  Cistercians,  my  luxury  to  the  Gray  friars,  and  my 
pride  to  the  Templars." 

At  last  Antioch  fell,  and  the  crusades  were  over. 
The  Holy  Land  was  abandoned,  and  the  Knights  of  the 
Temple  came  home.  But  they  brought  back  all  their 
pride,  all  their  exclusiveness,  all  their  privileges,  and  all 
their  money.  Feuds  had  broken  out  in  Palestine  among 
the  Christians  themselves,  and  the  Templars  had  made 
powerful  enemies  throughout  Europe. 

So,  when  they  returned,  the  storm  slowly  gathered  over 
their  proud,  unthinking  heads.  They  held  high  language 
to  kings  and  to  priests.  After  two  centuries  of  fighting, 
they  had  sunk  into  sloth,  and  perhaps  into  vice.  They 
offended  by  the  display  of  their  wealth  and  by  the  veiled 
mysteries  of  their  inner  life.  Ugly  rumours  flew  abroad, 
and  they  became  hateful. 

In  France  they  had  especially  provoked  wrath.  They 
had  slain  a  member  of  the  royal  house,  had  taken  sides 
against  it  in  political  disputes,  and  had  refused  to  con- 
tribute toward  the  ransom  of  St.  Louis.  To  Philip  the 
Fair  they  had  become  intolerably  offensive  ;  they  had  sup- 
ported him,  under  protest,  against  the  Pope,  had  refused 
him  admission  into  their  order,  had  saved  his  life  in  a  riot 
which  his  tyranny  had  provoked,  and  had  loaned  him  money 
which  he  could  not  repay. 

Philip  determined  to  destroy  this  useless,  dangerous,  and 
unpopular  corporation.  The  consent  of  Clement  had  been 
obtained  by  the  king  as  a  condition  precedent  to  his  elec- 
tion as  Pope.  Besides,  it  was  agreed  that  the  confiscated 
wealth  of  the  Templars  should  be  divided  between  the 
Pope  and  the  king.  These  precautions  having  been  taken, 


180  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Philip  the  Fair  lulled  the  heads  of  the  order  into  a  sense  of 
false  security,  invited  them  to  Paris,  heaped  favours  upon 
them,  asked  the  grand  master  to  stand  godfather  to  one 
of  his  children,  and  named  this  grand  master,  Jacques  de 
Molay,  to  act  as  pall-bearer,  on  October  12,  at  the  funeral 
of  his  sister-in-law. 

A.D.  On  the  13th  of  October  the  bolt  fell.  Molay  was  ar- 
rested, and,  with  him,  140  Templars  who  had  assembled  at 
Paris.  Similar  arrests  were  made  throughout  the  kingdom. 

Public  sentiment  was  all  with  Philip.  He  had  worked 
it  up,  adroitly  assisted  by  the  monks  and  the  barons. 

The  doomed  men  were  brought  to  trial  upon  the  most 
absurd  charges :  the  worship  of  Mohammed,  of  the  devil  in 
the  form  of  a  cat,  and  of  a  head  with  silver  beard  and  flam- 
ing eyes.  They  were  also  accused  of  spitting  on  the  cross, 
turning  their  naked  backs  to  the  altar,  denying  God,  and 
other  crimes. 

Under  torture,  the  knights  confessed  everything;  re- 
lieved of  the  torture,  they  withdrew  their  confessions,  and 
protested  that  they  were  not  guilty  of  any  sins  saving  those 
incident  to  common  humanity. 

The  king,  the  Pope,  the  barons,  the  people,  were  all 
against  these  wretched  Templars,  sole  remnant  of  the 
once  glorious  crusades ;  they  were  condemned,  and  were 
burnt  to  death  at  slow  fires.  Their  immense  wealth  was 
divided  between  the  king  and  the  Church,  and  15,000 
families  were  ruined  by  this  colossal  confiscation. 

Jacques  de  Molay  went  to  his  death  like  a  hero,  pro- 
testing his  innocence.  In  a  loud  voice  he  called  on  Philip 
and  Clement,  king  and  Pope,  to  meet  him  before  the  judg- 
ment-bar of  God  within  a  year.  Within  the  year  both 
Philip  and  Clement  had  gone  to  answer  the  summons. 


xi  LOUIS  THE   FAT  TO  PHILIP  THE   FAIR  181 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  Templars  were  ruined  chiefly 
by  an  act  in  which  there  was  neither  real  nor  intended 
crime.  In  the  ceremony  of  initiation  they  had  introduced 
the  denial  of  his  Lord  by  Peter,  and  this  denial  of  Peter 
was  symbolically  represented  by  spitting  on  the  cross. 
When  the  evidence  disclosed  this  fact,  universal  horror 
took  possession  of  the  people.  They  shivered  to  the  very 
marrow,  crossed  themselves,  and  refused  to  hear  a  word  of 
explanation  or  defence. 

It  does  not  appear  that  Philip  the  Fair  was  actuated  by 
any  motives  other  than  those  of  political  expediency  when 
he  called  to  the  States  General  of  1302  the  deputies  of  the 
towns.  He  was  no  believer  in  popular  right.  He  was  a 
despot,  but  also  a  profound  politician.  His  purpose,  appar- 
ently, was  merely  to  find  some  balance  for  the  power 
of  the  barons  and  the  bishops,  and  with  this  end  in 
view,  he  recognized  the  political  existence  of  the  towns. 
Philip  meant  to  be  absolute  master  over  all,  but  in 
creating  this  new  political  factor  he  had  done  a  notable 
thing. 

In  1313  the  king  issued  an  ordinance  forbidding  the 
nobles  to  coin  money.  So  great  was  their  reluctance  to 
surrender  this  feudal  privilege  that  they  organized  a  con- 
spiracy against  him  and  it  was  in  the  midst  of  this  serious 
crisis  that  he  died.  Some  authorities  say  he  died  of 
a  lingering  disease,  wasting  away  from  some  unnamed 
malady ;  others  say  he  met  his  death  from  the  tusks  of  a 
wild  boar  which  he  was  hunting. 

The  nobles  and  the  priests  bore  no  love  to  Philip ;  he 
had  curbed  both  orders  with  an  iron  hand ;  and  it  may  be 
that  his  character  has  been  made  more  odious  than  justice 
demanded.  That  he  was  hard,  cruel,  and  despotic  seems 


182  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

undeniable ;  but  it  is  equally  true  that  modern  France 
begins  with  him,  and  that  the  germs  of  civil  order  and 
regal  strength  rapidly  developed  during  his  reign. 

He  successfully  reasserted  the  supremacy  of  the  central 
power  of  the  State  over  the  federated  feudal  lord  and  the 
usurpations  of  the  papacy;  he  not  only  maintained  the 
national  currency  of  St.  Louis,  but  forbade  the  various 
local  currencies ;  he  forbade  private  wars  and  judicial 
combats ;  he  organized  the  royal  court  in  three  branches, 
the  Parliament,  which  was  the  supreme  judicial  tribunal, 
the  Chamber  of  Accounts,  which  was  the  exchequer, 
and  the  Grand  Council,  which  was  political.  Thus  we 
have  the  first  outline  of  orderly  administration  according 
to  modern  ideas,  the  different  powers  of  government  being 
distributed  among  different  departments  —  the  king,  of 
course,  dominating  all. 

It  was  Philip  who  created  frontier  custom-houses,  at 
which  customs  duties  were  collected  on  exports. 

Despotic  as  he  undoubtedly  was,  he  is  the  first  of  the 
French  kings  who  caused  himself  to  be  addressed  in  behalf 
"of  the  French  people,"  and  still  more  remarkable  are 
the  words  of  the  ordinance  in  which  he  confirms  the 
granting  of  freedom  to  the  serfs  of  the  Valois :  — 

"  Seeing  that  every  human  creature  who  is  made  in  the 
image  of  our  Lord  ought  to  be  free  by  natural  right,  and 
that  in  no  country  this  natural  liberty  should  be  so  de- 
stroyed by  the  hateful  yoke  of  servitude,"  etc. 

This  language  was  new  to  the  feudal  lords,  and  to  them 
it  no  doubt  seemed  that  Philip  was  about  to  become  a 
social  and  political  incendiary. 

In  proclaiming  the  natural  freedom  of  men  and  the 
hatefulness  of  servitude,  Philip  was  putting  a  destructive 


xi  LOUIS  THE  FAT  TO  PHILIP  THE  FAIR  183 

engine  under  the  very  corner-stone  of  feudalism.  No 
wonder  the  barons  conspired,  less  on  account  of  the  coin- 
age ordinance,  than  upon  this  vital  question  of  abolishing 
slavery. 

It  is  even  hinted  that  the  slow,  mysterious  malady  of 
which  he  died  was  a  subtle  poison. 


CHAPTER   XII 

LOUIS   X.   TO   CHARLES   THE  FAIR 
BEGINNING  OF  FREEDOM  OF  THOUGHT 

(1314-1328) 

three  sons  of  Philip  the   Fair  succeeded  him  in 
turn,  their  children  being  daughters,  and  women  being 
excluded  from  the  throne  by  the  Salic  Law  of  the  Franks. 
A.D.        Louis   the   Quarrelsome   reigned   less   than   two   years 
1314    (1314-1316),  but  within  that  period  much  of  his  father's 
work  was  undone   by  the  strong   feudal   reaction  which 
took  place. 

The  nobles  hanged  Marigny  —  the  finance  minister  of 
Philip  the  Fair  —  on  the  charge  of  witchcraft,  his  of- 
fence being,  in  reality,  that  he  was  identified  with  the 
centralizing  policy  of  the  late  king.  The  right  of  pri- 
vate war  was  restored  to  the  barons,  the  right  to  estab- 
lish courts,  the  removal  of  the  royal  judges,  and  the 
right  to  dispense  with  written  pleadings.  By  this  last 
expedient  they  expected  to  be  able  to  dispense  with 
lawyers. 

Louis  the  Quarrelsome,  who  commenced  his  reign  by 
strangling  his  wife,  defrayed  the  expenses  of  his  corona- 
tion with  the  treasures  taken  from  Marigny,  and  died 
before  his  second  wife  could  give  birth  to  a  child. 

For  four  months  the  kingdom  waited  patiently,  and 
then  the  queen  was  delivered  of  a  boy,  who  died  in 

J84 


CHAP,  xii  LOUIS  X.    TO  CHARLES  THE  FAIR  185 

eight  days.  The  crown  then  passed  to  Philip  the  Long, 
brother  of  Louis  the  Quarrelsome,  to  the  exclusion  of  a 
daughter  of  the  late  king  by  his  first  marriage. 

Philip  the  Long  (1316-1322)  three  times  convoked  the  x.n. 
States  General,  renewed  the  exclusion  of  Churchmen  from  1316 
Parliament,  instituted  the  Council  of  State,  and  endeav- 
oured to  establish  a  uniform  system  of  currency  and  of 
weights  and  measures.  The  jurisdiction  of  the  Chamber 
of  Accounts  was  extended,  the  royal  domains  declared 
inalienable,  and  titles  of  nobility  conferred  upon  com- 
moners,—  a  practice  which  had  originated  under  Philip 
III.  By  introducing  this  new  element  into  the  feudal 
aristocracy,  it  was  made  more  dependent  on  the  crown, 
its  power  was  disassociated  from  the  monopoly  of  the 
ownership  of  land,  and  its  exclusiveness  as  a  military 
caste  invaded. 

At  the  same  time  that  royalty  dealt  feudalism  this 
blow  from  above,  it  encouraged  the  commons  to  deal 
it  another  from  below.  The  people  were  given  the  right 
of  military  organization.  In  the  towns,  therefore,  was 
erected  a  legal  military  barrier  to  the  aggressions  of  the 
feudal  lords. 

In  this  reign  the  power  of  Parliament  had  become  suf- 
ficiently established  to  bring  to  trial  and  execution  one 
of  the  highest  of  the  nobles,  whose  wife  was  niece  to  the 
Pope,  and  whose  relatives  were  among  the  most  powerful 
barons  in  France.  This  feudal  chief,  Jordan  de  Lille, 
felt  his  own  importance  so  deeply  that  he  struck  dead 
the  royal  officer  who  had  summoned  him  to  court.  Sum- 
moned again,  he  scornfully  went,  surrounded  by  a  bril- 
liant cavalcade  of  nobles,  and  thinking  to  browbeat  the 
prosecution  into  retreat.  To  his  profound  surprise,  he 


186  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

found  the  royal  power  and  the  magic  of  the  law  amply 
sufficient  to  drag  him  to  jail,  to  prove  his  repeated  crimes, 
and  to  put  him  to  death  ignominiously  on  the  gallows. 
This  incident  seems  to  deserve  more  attention  than  it 
has  usually  received.  It  distinctly  emphasizes  the  com- 
mencement of  a  new  order  of  things  and  a  passing  away 
of  the  old. 

A.D.        Charles  the  Fair  succeeded  his  brother  in  1322,  reigned 
1322   less   than   six   years,  and   left  no   record   which  invites 
special  attention. 

Thus  ended  the  line  of  Philip  the  Fair,  and  the  crown 
passed  to  Philip  of  Valois,  son  of  Charles  of  Anjou,  Philip 
the  Fair's  brother. 

Following  the  example  of  his  father,  Louis  the  Quarrel- 
some had  encouraged  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs.  By 
ordinance  he  declared  that  "according  to  the  law  of 
nature,  every  man  should  be  born  free,"  and  he  therefore, 
with  royal  inconsistency,  fixed  a  scale  of  prices  at  which 
the  serfs  on  his  own  domains  might  purchase  this  natural 
right  of  freedom. 

The  king  went  still  further;  he  virtually  compelled 
all  serfs  who  owned  property  to  buy  their  liberty,  by 
threatening  to  take  all  their  goods  for  taxes  unless  they 
bought  their  freedom.  The  historian  Michelet  asserts 
that  this  legislation  failed  because  the  serfs  would  not 
accept  the  opportunity  offered  them.  This  may  be  true, 
but  the  overwhelming  presumption  is  to  the  contrary. 
Why  should  the  kings  legislate  on  this  subject,  from 
reign  to  reign,  if  the  laws  were  dead  letters  ?  And  why 
should  not  the  serf  wish  to  buy  freedom  if  he  could? 
That  there  were  serfs  who  had  got  together  a  little 
property,  is  shown  by  the  king's  threat  to  take  it  for 


xii  LOUIS  X.  TO  CHARLES  THE   FAIR  187 

taxes.  The  French  peasant  has  ever  been  a  secretive, 
miserly  toiler,  and  his  appearance  of  abject  poverty  has 
often  been  made  a  necessity  by  the  cruelty  of  the  laws 
against  him;  but  this  apparent  squalor  is  not  always 
inconsistent  with  the  supposition  that  he  has  hidden  a 
little  handful  of  coin  in  some  nook  or  cranny  of  his 
hut. 

In  these  reforms,  we  see  the  first  glimmerings  of  the 
dawn  of  a  brighter  era.  The  Dark  Ages  are  gone,  and 
men's  minds  are  awake.  The  birth-pangs  of  modern 
civilization  are  being  suffered  in  France,  as  in  other  lands. 
The  reign  of  law  and  order  is  about  to  commence.  The 
civil  power  is  rising  above  the  military,  the  State  above 
the  Church.  The  merchant  is  becoming  a  man  of  political 
influence ;  the  importance  of  commerce  begins  to  be  felt. 
The  age  of  gold  is  about  to  supersede  the  age  of  iron, 
the  thirst  for  wealth  to  extinguish  the  thirst  for  warlike 
renown.  The  Third  Estate  has  been  formed,  and  while 
the  breath  of  political  life  has  not  yet  been  breathed 
into  it,  the  mere  fact  that  the  king  has  virtually  threat- 
ened the  nobles  with  this  new  power  in  the  body  politic, 
is  profoundly  significant. 

Peasants  may  not  be  purchasing  their  freedom  very 
rapidly,  but  the  king  has  spoken  words  on  the  subject 
of  human  slavery  which  cannot  but  be  revolutionary  in 
their  tendency.  When  the  monarch  says  that  serfdom 
is  a  violation  of  the  law  of  nature,  and  offers  reasonable 
terms  upon  which  freedom  may  be  had,  the  principle  has 
secured  a  recognition  which  in  due  time  will  lead  to  its 
triumph.  The  kings  who  proclaimed  that  "all  men  are 
by  nature  free,"  died  early  and  mysteriously ;  their  memo- 
ries have  been  blackened  by  monkish  historians ;  it  was 


188  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

an  age  when  subtle  poisoning  was  practised  as  a  fine  art ; 
and  it  is  vaguely  hinted  that  these  royal  pioneers  of 
political  reform  met  their  death  at  the  hands  of  those 
whose  privileges  were  endangered. 

But  while  the  era  in  question  was  marked  by  the  innova- 
tions already  mentioned,  it  must  not  be  supposed  that 
barbarism  was  extinct,  or  that  ignorance  and  superstition 
had  been  overcome.  On  the  contrary,  some  of  the  black- 
est trails  of  the  Dark  Ages  were  still  to  be  seen.  Miracles 
were  still  believed  to  be  of  daily  occurrence,  sorcery  was 
a  common  crime,  visions  still  haunted  the  eyes  of  the 
superstitious,  and  voices  from  the  other  world  were  heard 
by  the  benighted  pilgrims  of  this. 

Astrology  was  a  regular  study.  Mild  and  studious 
lunatics  sought  to  discover  the  fortunes  of  the  individual 
man  by  reading  the  stars.  The  "  science  "  was  developed 
in  the  most  laborious  and  systematic  way,  and  the  whole 
thing  was  proven  by  maps,  charts,  diagrams,  and  signs. 

Another  study,  to  which  immense  energy  and  faith  was 
given,  was  that  of  alchemy.  A  belief  was  held  that  there 
was  a  method  by  which  baser  metals  might  be  turned  into 
gold.  The  search  for  this  secret  process  was  commonly 
called  seeking  the  philosopher's  stone.  Thousands  of 
men  gave  their  talents  and  their  lives  to  this  seductive 
craze.  If  they  are  to  be  credited,  they  came  deliriously 
near  to  success,  but  they  didn't  quite  reach  it. 

The  burning  of  witches  was  as  regular  as  the  conviction 
of  thieves.  No  accusation  was  more  fatal  to  the  accused, 
for  none  was  more  difficult  to  disprove.  Eccentricities 
which  now  provoke  an  indulgent  smile  were  then  regarded 
as  convincing  proofs  of  communications  with  the  devil. 
Many  a  bonfire  was  kindled  round  poor  old  men  and 


in  LOUIS  X.    TO  CHARLES  THE  FAIR  189 

women  whose  solitary  habits,  mumbling  soliloquies,  queer 
mannerisms  of  talk,  dress,  and  look,  merely  meant  the 
vagaries  of  second  childhood.  When  malicious  persecutors 
had  determined  upon  the  ruin  of  some  one  who  stood  in 
their  way,  they  rarely  failed  to  resort  to  the  terrible  charge 
of  witchcraft,  and  the  man  or  woman  who  escaped  it,  when 
the  faintest  sort  of  evidence  was  produced,  was  fortunate. 

The  Flemish  war  of  Louis  the  Quarrelsome,  while  pro- 
ducing no  political  results  of  importance,  had  been  a  ruin- 
ous drain  upon  the  kingdom.  The  people  in  their  misery 
became  restless  and  hysterical.  They  ran  away  from  their 
homes  in  great  numbers,  banded  themselves  together,  and 
under  the  name  of  Shepherds  went  roving  round  the 
country,  saying  that  they  wanted  to  cross  the  seas  and 
recover  the  Holy  Land.  Becoming  hungry,  they  begged 
food ;  when  it  was  refused,  they  took  it.  From  this  act  of 
lawlessness  others  grew,  until  the  troops  had  to  be  brought 
against  them,  and  with  merciless  cruelty  the  Shepherd 
movement  was  put  down. 

The  Jews,  expelled  by  Philip  the  Fair,  had  quietly  re- 
turned under  Louis  the  Quarrelsome.  They  were  allowed 
to  recover  their  property  if  they  could  find  it,  and  to  col- 
lect the  debts  due  them  by  giving  the  king  two-thirds 
thereof.  The  nobles  who  owed  money  to  the  Jews  found 
themselves  most  unpleasantly  surprised.  They  had  sup- 
posed that  these  old  debts  were  settled  by  the  simple 
process  of  banishing  the  creditors.  Here,  however,  were 
the  banished  creditors  recalled  to  France,  and  the  king  had 
actually  become  in  some  sort  their  partner. 

Just  at  this  time  the  report  began  to  circulate  that  the 
Jews  and  the  lepers  had  formed  an  unholy  combination 
and  had  poisoned  the  wells.  A  leper  woman  was  seen  to 


190  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

throw  behind  her  a  small  bag  tied  with  a  string.  Being 
opened,  it  was  found  to  contain  the  head  of  a  snake,  the 
feet  of  a  frog,  and  some  woman's  hair  moistened  with  a 
black,  stinking  liquor.  When  this  unlovely  compound 
was  thrown  into  the  fire,  it  did  not  burn.  Therefore  it 
was  clearly  proven,  to  the  mind  of  the  judge,  that  the 
combination  was  a  deadly  poison.  The  people  were 
immediately  aroused,  and  they  fell  upon  the  Jews  and 
lepers,  and  slaughtered  them  with  the  wild  ferocity  born 
of  race-hatred,  personal  loathing,  religious  frenzy,  and 
mysterious  fear. 

At  Chinon  they  dug  a  huge  trench,  kindled  a  fire 
within  it,  and  cast  into  this  flaming  pit  the  wretched 
Jews,  men,  women,  and  children,  so  that  160  perished  in 
one  awful  day. 

At  Vitry  forty  Jews,  being  held  in  the  royal  prison  and 
knowing  they  must  die,  determined  to  escape  death  at  the 
hand  of  the  uncircumcised,  and  they  prevailed  upon  two 
of  their  own  number  to  kill  the  others.  Of  the  two  thus 
left,  one  killed  the  other,  and  then  the  Christians  killed 
the  survivor. 

The  wicked  king  filled  his  coffers  with  the  spoil  of  the 
victims  of  these  massacres,  and  the  nobles  escaped  the 
payment  of  their  honest  debts. 

The  feudal  system  was  based  upon  two  vital  principles 
—  primogeniture  and  the  monopoly  of  land. 

By  the  first,  the  entire  power  and  wealth  passed  to  the 
eldest  son  rather  than  to  all  the  children  jointly.  The 
idea  was  to  preserve  the  landed  monopoly  and  the  power 
it  brought.  Dividing  the  land  would  have  meant  the 
division  of  the  power  and  the  weakening  of  the  system 
itself. 


in  LOUIS  X.   TO  CHARLES  THE   FAIR  191 

All  aristocracies  seek  to  preserve  themselves  in  the 
same  way,  while  all  governments  founded  upon  democracy 
recognize  the  dangers  of  monopoly  of  any  sort,  and  seek 
to  keep  the  wealth  of  the  country  wisely  distributed. 

This  feudal  system  came  to  be  hateful  to  the  king  and 
to  the  people.  To  the  former  because  he  was  almost  help- 
less among  these  powerful  nobles,  each  of  whom  dwelt  in 
royal  style  at  his  own  castle,  making  his  own  money,  his 
own  laws,  and  his  own  wars,  and  giving  to  the  monarch 
only  nominal  obedience. 

To  the  people  it  was  odious  because  of  the  pride,  the 
cruelty,  the  grinding  oppression  of  the  noble,  who  seized 
their  persons  or  their  property  whenever  he  saw  fit,  spending 
their  earnings  on  his  pleasures  and  their  lives  in  his  wars. 

Therefore,  when  royalty  determined  to  seize  the  reins 
of  power  more  firmly,  when  the  king  resolved  to  compel 
the  nobles  to  obey  the  central  authority,  the  common 
people  rallied  with  intense  enthusiasm  to  the  support  of 
the  throne.  From  this  cause  originated  the  affection 
which  the  French  people  so  long  entertained  for  their 
kings.  They  saw  the  case  only  from  their  own  stand- 
point, and  they  believed  that  the  monarch  was  acting 
from  the  most  patriotic  motives  in  freeing  them  from 
the  yoke  of  the  nobles. 

Royal  laws,  courts,  and  coinage  took  the  place  of  all 
others.  The  haughtiest  noble  was  made  to  bow  to  the 
general  law.  Each  grandee  was  made  responsible  for  the 
conduct  of  his  own  domains.  Police  forces  were  estab- 
lished in  the  cities,  and  a  standing  army  of  mercenary 
troops  made  the  king  independent  of  the  feudal  levies. 

In  return  for  the  help  which  the  commons  had  given,  the 
king  encouraged  and  protected  their  commerce,  their  trades, 


192  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

and  their  chartered  privileges.  He  made  each  city  and 
town  subject  to  his  will,  it  is  true ;  but  this  was  an  ad- 
vance over  the  condition  in  which  they  had  been  the  prey 
to  rapacious  robbers,  who  swooped  down  from  their  castles 
and  plundered  them  without  mercy. 

The  kings  saw  how  useful  the  strong  arms  of  these 
peasants  could  be  at  a  crisis,  and  their  importance  in  the 
State  steadily  grew.  So  that  when  Philip  the  Fair,  realizing 
the  fact  that  the  contest  between  himself  and  Pope  Boniface 
was  a  death-grapple,  summoned  a  general  council  of  the 
kingdom,  he  not  only  called  for  the  nobles  and  the  clergy, 
but  also  "  deputies  from  the  good  towns." 

This  was  the  first  appearance  of  the  commons  at  the 
general  assembly  of  Frenchmen  since  the  old  times  prior 
to  Charlemagne. 

The  distress  of  the  king  was  the  opportunity  of  the 
people. 

It  is  worth  remembering  that  the  Roman  Empire  was 
the  rule  of  the  town  and  the  city.  The  country  had  no 
part  in  it.  The  rural  citizen  had  no  influence,  and  rural 
property  was  at  a  great  disadvantage.  City  life,  city  law, 
and  city  property  were  everything. 

Under  the  feudal  system,  the  reverse  was  true.  The 
country  ruled  the  town.  The  chief,  living  in  his  castle, 
secure  from  attack  and  ready  to  make  assault,  was  master 
of  the  towns. 

To  throw  off  this  yoke  the  townsmen  organized  into 
secret  societies,  binding  themselves  by  oath  to  common 
purposes  and  concert  of  action. 

Each  trade  was  a  close  corporation  and  a  monopoly. 
The  outsider  could  not  exercise  it.  The  corporation 
absorbed  the  individual. 


xn  LOUIS  X.  TO   CHARLES  THE  FAIR  193 

Just  as  capital  organized  itself  into  a  feudal  tyranny,  so 
labour  organized  itself  into  the  tyranny  of  the  guilds. 

The  individual  man  was  at  the  mercy  of  all  parties, 
unless  he  joined  a  corporation.  Once  on  the  inside,  his 
corporation  was  bound  to  protect  him. 

This  was  a  harsh  system  all  round,  but  the  organization 
of  the  higher  orders  made  the  organization  of  the  lower 
orders  a  matter  of  self-preservation. 

Many  were  the  bloody  contests  the  townsmen  had  to 
wage  with  the  nobles.  Victory  changed  sides  with  painful 
frequency.  Many  a  nameless  hero  fought,  in  those  dim 
ages,  for  the  sacred  rights  of  common  humanity,  and  gave 
his  life  for  the  advancement  of  the  people.  To  nerve  those 
rude,  unlettered  townsmen  to  combine  against  the  frown- 
ing castle  and  its  haughty,  mail-clad  chieftain,  required 
eloquence,  perhaps,  equal  to  that  of  Mirabeau,  and  courage 
like  that  of  Caesar. 

If  we  were  asked  to  trace  back  to  its  origin  the  liberties 
of  modern  France,  we  would  certainly  seek  it  among  the 
unheralded  heroes  who  first  roused  the  town  to  resist  the 
castle. 

While  the  great  body  of  the  people  were  thus  seeking 
power  in  the  government  of  France,  another  principle, 
equally  important,  was  struggling  for  recognition. 

Liberty  of  thought  was  striving  for  existence. 

The  Albigenses  differed  from  the  Catholics.  They 
thought  it  wrong  to  worship  the  cross  itself.  They 
thought  it  wrong  for  a  sinner  to  buy  prayers  and  forgive- 
ness with  money.  They  rejected  infant  baptism  and  the 
doctrine  of  purgatory.  They  claimed  to  be  guided  by  the 
Bible  alone,  and  they  did  not  recognize  the  authority  of 
the  Pope. 


194  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

Thus  liberty  of  thought  and  conscience  asserted  itself. 

As  already  related,  the  Pope  made  implacable  war  upon 
the  "  heretics,"  and  the  voice  of  the  dissenter  was  hushed 
in  swift  and  cruel  death. 

Liberty  of  conscience  seemed  a  lost  cause.  But, 
through  the  inscrutable  ways  of  God,  it  constantly  made 
headway.  The  selfish  interests  of  the  kings  compelled 
them  to  resist  the  claims  and  the  pretensions  of  the 
Church.  Their  resistance  was  successful.  The  Church 
was  routed  and  discredited. 

The  lesson  was  not  lost.  If  a  king  could  resist  a  Pope's 
decree  and  yet  prosper,  why  not  others? 

Besides  this,  there  were  scandals  in  the  Church  itself 
which  lowered  its  dignity  and  lessened  its  power.  At 
one  time  three  different  men  claimed  to  be  the  Pope. 
Each  had  his  partisans  and  his  scoffers,  —  those  who 
accepted  his  claim  to  be  the  representative  of  Christ  and 
those  who  rejected  it.  All  Christendom  was  divided,  and 
the  spell  of  papal  infallibility  received  a  rude  disturbance. 
A  theological  cannonade  filled  Europe  with  its  harmless 
noise.  Each  Pope  shelled  the  other  two  with  curses, 
interdicts,  and  excommunications,  under  which  followers 
of  each  claimant  expected  to  see  the  other  claimants 
wither  away.  Great  was  the  marvel  when  it  was  gradu- 
ally made  apparent  that  nobody  was  going  to  wither, 
and  that  each  claimant  stubbornly  declined  to  be  anni- 
hilated. 

Events  like  these  compel  people  to  think,  in  spite  of 
themselves.  Europe  awoke  as  from  a  grewsome  spell. 
The  wand  of  the  enchanter  was  broken  by  the  wizard  him- 
self. The  Popes,  by  fruitlessly  cursing  each  other,  de- 
monstrated the  harmless  character  of  papal  curses.  It  was 


xn  LOUIS  X.    TO   CHARLES  THE  FAIR  195 

seen  that  their  tremendous  power  arose  entirely  from  the 
fears  of  the  cursed. 

Learning,  too,  was  on  the  increase.  Fifteen  thousand 
students  crowded  the  University  of  Paris.  Every  town 
and  every  monastery  had  its  school.  The  spirit  of  inquiry 
was  abroad,  and  while  each  scholar  claimed  to  be  orthodox, 
differences  of  opinion  arose  and  great  theological  discus- 
sions commenced. 

Pronounced  heretics,  those  who  openly  rejected  the 
authority  of  the  Pope  and  the  creed  of  the  established 
Church,  were  burnt.  Even  Philip  Augustus,  who  would 
take  no  part  in  the  Albigensian  crusade,  allowed  the 
Inquisition  to  burn  his  subjects  for  honest  differences  of 
opinion  upon  questions  of  faith. 

Later  on  we  shall  see  the  spirit  of  independent  thought 
break  out  again.  We  shall  see  it  fight  more  stubbornly 
than  it  did  in  Languedoc.  We  shall  see  it  again  put 
down  with  horrible  cruelty. 

Then  again  we  shall  see  it  break  forth  to  be  put  down 
no  more  forever.  We  shall  see  it  blazing  forth  from 
Germany,  illuminating  France  and  the  uttermost  ends  of 
the  earth  and  the  uttermost  ages  of  man. 

Not  a  single  one  of  the  liberties  we  enjoy  was  conceived 
in  America.  Each  and  every  one  of  them  was  cradled  in 
the  Old  World.  These  principles  of  civil  liberty  had  all 
been  sprung  in  Europe,  and  had  for  generations  been 
forcing  and  fighting  their  way  onward,  —  running  the 
gauntlet  of  the  centuries. 

Wise  men  had  conceived  them,  bold  men  had  pro- 
claimed them,  brave  men  had  fought  for  them,  martyrs 
had  died  for  them. 

Failure  came  upon  these  principles  time  and  again.     No 


196  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP,  xn 

reform  ever  sprang  full-armed  and  irresistible  from  the 
head  of  any  political  Jove. 

There  is,  and  in  the  very  nature  of  things  must  be,  the 
time  of  infancy  and  weakness. 

There  is,  and  must  be,  the  time  of  patient  planning, 
of  painful  culture,  and  of  gradual  growth,  before  the 
harvest-field  yellows  with  the  ripened  results. 

The  true  heroes  of  our  race  are  not  those  whose  names 
blazon  the  march  of  great  thought  and  great  principles 
as  they  burst  into  final  success.  They  lie  in  unmarked 
graves  beneath  the  accumulated  oblivion  of  bygone  ages. 
Their  brains  cradled  the  daring  thought  at  a  time  when  it 
was  treason.  Their  burning  lips  proclaimed  it  when  the 
gibbet,  or  the  dungeon,  or  the  stake,  was  almost  certain  to 
be  their  doom. 

Unrewarded  by  the  praise  of  hopeful  adherents,  perse- 
cuted malignantly  by  the  powers  they  accused  of  tyranny, 
followed  to  execution  by  the  derision  of  those  deluded 
serfs  of  king  and  Church  whom  they  wished  to  free,  the 
lot  of  the  early  reformers  was  one  that  called  for  divinest 
motives  and  sublimest  courage. 

That  we  enjoy  any  liberties  which  are  worth  the  name 
is  due,  not  alone  to  those  whose  names  are  amber-held  in 
the  poetry,  the  history,  and  the  songs  of  the  world,  but 
to  the  heroic  efforts,  the  unstinted  self-sacrifice,  the  splen- 
did devotion  of  the  earlier  martyrs  who  dreamed  of  the 
blessings  we  enjoy  and  died  rather  than  be  silent. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

THE   HUNDRED    YEARS'    WAR 

PHILIP  THE  FORTUNATE  AND  JOHN  THE  GOOD 

(1388-1364) 

DEGINNING  with  personal  disputes  between  grandees    A.D. 

and  kings,  there  now  ensued  a  period  of  bloodshed,    1328 
rapine,  and   chaotic  lawlessness  which  halted  the  advan- 
cing lines  of   civilization,  and   drove  them  backward   in 
a  demoralization  which  seemed  to  be  hopeless. 

In  these  wars  the  questions  at  stake  were  not  those 
concerning  the  people  at  all.  They  involved  merely  the 
rival  claims  of  individual  grandees  and  individual  kings. 
Having  raised  disputes  which  could  only  be  settled  by  the 
sword,  they  called  upon  the  people  to  come  forth  and  do 
the  fighting. 

Cities  were  burnt  and  churches  demolished ;  fields  were 
devastated  and  castles  sacked;  commerce  was  paralyzed 
and  agriculture  ruined ;  Christianity  mocked  and  educa- 
tion checked ;  men  were  butchered,  children  slain,  and 
women  outraged ;  the  land  was  filled  with  woe,  misery, 
and  want ;  a  mad  revel  of  lust,  greed,  and  brutality  was 
let  loose  upon  the  helpless,  unoffending  citizens,  —  all 
because  their  lazy,  arrogant,  and  vicious  rulers  could  not 
live  without  quarrels. 

Philip  VI.  was  the  next  king  of  France.     He  is  known 

197 


198  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

A-T>.    in  the  language  of  court  flattery  as  Philip  the  Fortunate, 

1  QQQ 

and  was  one  of  the  unluckiest  scamps  that  ever  lived. 

By  the  wanton  throwing  of  a  spark  into  a  powder- 
house,  he  caused  an  explosion  which  shook  his  throne 
to  its  foundations,  and  lit  a  fire  which  burned,  now  fiercely, 
now  smoulderingly,  for  100  years. 

We  have  already  seen  that  by  the  Salic  Law  of  the 
Franks,  female  heirs  were  excluded  from  feudal  inheri- 
tances. The  reason  was  that  women  were  not  fitted  to 
render  the  military  service  by  which  feudal  tenures  were 
held. 

It  so  happened  that  the  Count  of  Artois  had  lost  his 
life  serving  Philip  the  Fair  in  the  battle  of  Courtray,  and 
that  Matilda,  daughter  of  the  dead  count,  had  married  the 
Duke  of  Burgundy,  and  that  the  sons  of  Philip  the  Fair 
had  married  the  daughter  of  this  Matilda. 

The  son  of  the  slain  Count  of  Artois  had  died  before 
him,  but  had  left  a  son,  Robert  of  Artois,  who  laid  claim 
to  the  inheritance  of  his  grandfather.  Philip  the  Fair 
had  decided  that  the  fiefs  must  go  to  Matilda  —  from 
whom  they  would  naturally  descend  to  her  daughters 
and  so  to  the  husbands  of  these  daughters,  Philip's 
own  sons. 

Now  Robert  of  Artois  could  not  for  the  life  of  him 
understand  how  the  Salic  Law  could  work  so  smoothly 
in  one  place  and  not  in  another.  He  regarded  Philip's 
decision  as  a  gross  injustice,  a  despotic  violation  of  ac- 
cepted feudal  law;  and  very  many  nobles  agreed  with 
him. 

When  Charles  the  Fair  died,  leaving  daughters,  Robert 
of  Artois  threw  all  his  influence  to  the  support  of  Philip 
of  Valois,  the  next  male  heir,  in  the  belief  that  a  king  who 


xiii  THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'    WAR  199 

owed  his  crown  to  the  Salic  Law  would  enforce  it  in  favour 
of  others. 

To  his  infinite  disgust  he  discovered  that  the  new  king 
had  no  such  intention.     He  declined  to  overrule  the  deci-   1331- 
sion  already  made  in  the  case,  unless  some  new  evidence    1332 
could  be  produced.     In  a  moment  of  madness,  Robert  of 
Artois  resorted  to  forgery  to  supply  this  evidence. 

The  clumsy  fraud  was  discovered,  an  obscure  agent 
in  the  transaction  burnt,  and  Robert  himself  became  a 
fugitive.  Stripped  of  his  vast  inheritance,  his  name 
proscribed,  his  wife  in  prison,  though  sister  to  the  king, 
himself  hunted  out  of  Brabant  where  he  first  sought 
shelter,  this  able  man  to  whom  Philip  of  Valois  so  much 
owed  his  own  elevation,  crossed  over  to  England,  vowing 
vengeance. 

An  Italian  war  once  broke  out  over  a  miserable  well- 
bucket,  and  10,000  lives  were  lost ;  the  commencement 
of  the  Hundred  Years'  War  in  which  two  kingdoms  were 
impoverished  and  1,000,000  men  slain,  was  not  more  dig- 
nified. Comparatively  speaking,  it  was  a  fight  over  a 
well-bucket. 

The  English  throne  was  occupied  by  Edward  III.,  whose 
mother,  Isabella,  the  beautiful  and  bad,  was  a  daughter 
of  Philip  the  Fair.  Edward,  therefore,  was  the  direct  and 
lineal  heir  to  the  crown  of  France,  if  the  female  line  could 
transmit  fiefs. 

The  king  of  France  had  most  unwisely  decided  at  this 
critical  juncture  that  women  could  inherit ;  hence  Edward 
was  entitled  to  Philip's  crown.  If  the  law  applied  to  the 
case  of  Robert  of  Artois  was  good,  then  Isabella's  son  was 
rightful  heir  to  his  grandfather's  throne.  Philip  of  Valois 
had  never  thought  of  this,  perhaps,  when  he  was  stripping 


200  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Artois  of  his  inheritance,  but  Artois  had,  and  he  forthwith 
hied  away  to  England  to  rouse  Edward  to  action. 

That  monarch  had  already  twice  acknowledged  the  title 
of  Philip  of  Valois,  and  done  homage  to  him  as  king  of 
France  for  his  own  possessions  there.  He  was  not  even 
meditating  any  contest ;  it  was  Robert  of  Artois  who  put 
the  notion  into  his  head,  fired  his  ambition,  his  cupidity, 
and  his  pride. 

It  is  true  that  there  were  other  motives  which  had 
influence  with  Edward :  Philip  had  been  giving  aid  to 
the  Scotch,  and  the  Flemings  had  turned  to  England  for 
aid  against  their  tyrannical  count,  who  was  supported  by 
the  king  of  France.  Still,  French  and  Scotch  alliances 
were  nothing  new,  and  the  Flemish  wool-trade  was  not 
of  itself  a  matter  to  involve  two  nations  for  several  genera- 
tions. The  real  pith  of  the  contention  was  personal :  the 
English  kings  wanted  the  French  throne  —  and  they  came 
tremendously  near  getting  it. 

On  the  side  of  France  was  a  king  without  ability  of  any 
conceivable  sort,  a  feudal  nobility  split  up  into  factions, 
a  middle  class  unused  to  discipline,  and  a  peasantry  with- 
out incentive  to  patriotism. 

On  the  side  of  England  was  a  king  of  brilliant  capacity, 
both  political  and  military,  a  nobility  united  by  a  fever  for 
renown,  and  a  soldiery  famous  for  their  use  of  the  bow  and 
eager  to  gather  booty  in  conquered  territory. 
A-n-  The  war  began  with  a  naval  battle  off  Sluys,  in  which 
France  lost  ninety  ships  and  30,000  men.  Nobody  told 
Philip  about  it,  and  he  only  learned  of  it  through  a  hint 
dropped  by  the  court  fool. 

After  languishing  several  years  without  other  decisive 
engagements,  the  war  was  suspended  by  a  truce. 


xni  THE   HUNDRED   YEARS'    WAR  201 

Then,  in  1341,  hostilities  recommenced  in  Brittany  over    A.i>. 
another  personal  dispute.     There  were  two  claimants  to    1341 
the  ducal  throne,  one  supported  by  Philip,  the  other  by 
Edward,  and  the  case  was   carried  to  "trial   by  battle." 
Another  truce  was  declared  in  1343  which  lasted  till  1346. 

Philip  provoked  a  renewal  of  the  war  by  an  act  of 
treachery  and  barbarous  revenge.  He  invited  to  a  grand 
tournament  at  Paris  certain  Breton  nobles  who  had  taken 
sides  against  him  in  the  late  war  in  Brittany.  Gayly 
bedight,  these  knights  of  high  degree  set  off  from  their 
homes  in  Brittany,  pennons  flying,  armour  glancing  in  the 
sun,  plumes  dancing  on  gilded  helms,  pricking  onward 
to  the  great  city  of  Paris  to  joust  before  the  king,  and  to 
win  the  smiles  and  favour  of  fair  women  and  the  generous 
applause  of  brave  men. 

With  Olivier  de  Clisson  at  their  head,  this  brilliant  band 
of  invited  knights  rides  gallantly  on  through  sunny 
France,  confident  and  bold,  with  high  hope  in  heart,  with 
gay  words  on  lip,  admiring  and  admired,  strong  in  the 
glow  of  ruddy  life  —  riding  to  win  honour  in  the  lists,  in 
jousts  before  the  king. 

They  no  sooner  draw  rein  in  Paris  than  a  faithless  king 
lays  cruel  hands  upon  them,  drags  them  to  foul  dungeons, 
and  without  trial  of  any  kind  has  their  heads  struck  off  - 
and  thus  comes  to  an  end  the  joyous  ride  of  the  gallant 
knights  invited  by  their  king.  The  gory  head  of  Clisson 
was  sent  to  Nantes  and  nailed  to  one  of  the  city  gates. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  shame  of  this  dastardly  deed 
rang  throughout  Europe,  and  that  Edward  of  England 
and  all  his  chivalry  should  swear  to  take  bloody  revenge  ? 
Is  it  any  wonder  that  Clisson's  widow  should  stir  heaven 
and  earth  for  vengeance  ? 


202  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

The  war  breaks  out  anew,  and  the  people  of  two  great 
nations  are  to  suffer  because  of  the  personal  crime  of  a 
king. 

A.D.        Landing  in  France  with  32,000  men,  Edward  captured 
1346   Caen  (1346),  and  advanced  up  the  Seine,  came  in  sight  of 
Paris,  and  burned  St.  Cloud. 

Philip  got  together  a  huge,  unwieldy  army  and  marched 
against  the  English.  They  fell  back  and  took  position  at 
Cre"cy.  Those  writers  who  fight  battles  in  their  libraries 
tell  us  that  Philip  should  have  surrounded  Edward  and 
starved  him  out.  They  tell  us  that  in  two  days  the 
English  would  have  been  so  reduced  by  famine  that  they 
would  have  sued  for  peace.  The  present  writer  does  not 
know  so  well  about  that.  Edward  might  not  have  been 
willing  to  die  like  a  starved  rat.  The  valour  which  routed 
the  French  when  they  attacked  the  hill,  would  very  prob- 
ably have  been  sufficient  to  carry  the  English  through 
the  line  of  blockade  at  any  point  they  decided  to  strike. 

At  all  events,  the  battle  of  Cre*cy  or  Cressy  was  fought, 
and  King  Philip  got  a  tremendous  beating.  Eleven  princes, 
1200  knights,  and  30,000  soldiers  were  the  losses  on  the 
side  of  France. 

Philip  had  contributed  powerfully  to  the  English  vic- 
tory. He  had  sent  his  troops,  wet,  weary,  and  weak 
from  a  long  march  in  the  rain,  into  the  battle  without 
giving  horse  or  man  time  to  rest.  He  had  become  en- 
raged with  the  Genoese  mercenaries  in  his  service,  and 
had  ordered  his  French  troops  to  slay  them.  Thus  at 
the  very  opening  of  the  battle  was  seen  a  spectacle  never 
before  witnessed  in  war,  —  different  portions  of  one  of 
the  armies  fighting  among  themselves.  Of  course  such 
folly  made  the  English  task  easy.  All  they  had  to  do 


xin  THE   HUNDRED  YEARS'    WAR  203 

was  to  shoot.  The  helpless  mass  of  the  French  could  of- 
fer no  effectual  resistance.  Philip  fought  bravely  enough, 
it  was  the  limit  of  his  capacity ;  the  nobles  died  with  use- 
less heroism,  for  French  nobles  have  never  lacked  cour- 
age ;  and  blind  old  John,  king  of  Bohemia,  was  led  far 
into  the  fight  by  his  brothers-in-arms,  bridles  tied  to 
bridles,  that  the  brave  old  warrior  might  meet  a  soldier's 
death.  But  nothing  availed.  Steady  English  courage, 
terrible  longbows,  and  still  more  fearful  bombards  won 
the  day. 

These  bombards  were  small  cannon,  made  of  wooden 
staves,  clamped  by  iron  bauds,  and  loaded  with  gun- 
powder and  stones,  or  iron  balls.  The  battle  of  Cressy 
was  the  first  in  which  artillery  was  used. 

In  another  respect,  the  victory  of  the  English  was 
decisive.  It  marks  the  beginning  of  the  superiority  of 
infantry  over  cavalry.  The  utter  uselessness  of  mail- 
clad  knights  and  mail-clad  horses,  from  a  military  point 
of  view,  as  against  well-armed  foot-soldiers,  was  thor- 
oughly demonstrated.  Consequently  the  importance  of 
the  knights  declined  and  that  of  the  foot-soldiers  rose. 
The  nobles  were  losing  France  with  their  broils  and  their 
want  of  military  ability;  the  common  people  must  save 
it  with  their  infantry  and  their  patriotic  unanimity. 
Calais  fell  (1347)  into  the  hands  of  Edward  after  a 
memorable  siege,  and  he  drove  out  all  the  inhabitants, 
and  repeopled  the  city  with  English. 

Pope  Clement  VI.  now  interposed  as  peacemaker,  and 
a  truce  was  signed. 

France  was  in  a  state  of  misery  and  despair.  Her 
defenders  were  inefficient,  her  king  heedless,  rash,  and 
violent ;  her  common  people  afflicted  by  new  taxes  and  the 


204  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

marauding  habits  of  the  soldiers  of  both  armies.  To  deepen 
the  general  gloom  came  the  Black  Death  (1348).  In  many 
places  the  mortality  was  so  great  that  out  of  twenty 
A.D.  men  only  two  survived.  At  Paris  500  died  under  it 
1348  every  day.  At  Narbonne  30,000  died;  in  Provence  it 
swept  off  two-thirds  of  the  inhabitants ;  in  several  dis- 
tricts only  one-tenth  remained. 

A  swelling  would  suddenly  appear  in  the  groin  or 
under  the  armpits ;  it  was  an  infallible  sign  of  death. 

Terror  took  possession  of  the  people.  The  dead  were 
left  unburied,  the  sick  unnursed.  Fathers  fled  from 
plague-stricken  sons,  sons  from  fathers,  husbands  from 
wives.  The  priests  themselves  fled  —  nature  asserting 
itself  over  all. 

The  monks  fled,  but  not  so  the  Sisters  of  Mercy. 
In  Paris  these  holy  women  cast  aside  all  fear  of  death, 
ministered  to  the  sick,  prayed  with  the  dying,  shrouded 
the  dead,  and  as  they  themselves  fell,  one  by  one,  other 
heroic  Sisters  caught  up  the  sacred  work  of  Christianity 
and  carried  it  onward. 

There  being  no  other  reasonable  hypothesis  upon  which 
this  pestilence  could  be  accounted  for,  the  Jews  were 
convicted  of  it.  They  had,  of  a  surety,  been  poisoning 
the  wells  again.  Enraged  mobs  fell  upon  them  in  all 
places  throughout  France  and  Germany,  and  slew  them 
without  mercy. 

This  mad  period  gave  birth  to  the  Flagellants,  —  half- 
naked  bands  of  frantic  men  and  women  who  swept  from 
town  to  town,  wailing  dismally,  and  scourging  them- 
selves cruelly  with  whips.  These  crazy  people,  inflicting 
penance  on  themselves  for  the  sins  of  the  world,  were  a 
reflection  upon  the  Church ;  and  the  Church,  not  relishing 


xin  THE   HUNDKED  YEARS'    WAR  206 

such    boisterous    criticism,    condemned    these    imprudent 
critics,  and  hunted  them  to  their  death. 

Philip    the    Fortunate,    who    never   won    a    fight    and    A.D. 
never  had   a   piece   of   good   luck   in   all   his   disastrous   136° 
life,    died   in    1350,    to    the    very   great   satisfaction    of 
everybody. 

One  of  the  very  last  acts  of  his  shameful  reign  was 
his  marrying  the  intended  bride  of  his  son.  He  had 
selected  the  girl  himself  and  she  had  come  to  Paris 
to  be  his  son's  wife,  but  Philip  was  pleased  with  her 
looks  to  such  an  extent  that  he  married  her,  and  got 
his  son  to  marry  a  widow  who  was  somewhat  ugly  and 
a  trifle  old.  This  is  perhaps  the  reason  why  the  son  was 
called  John  the  Good. 

By  virtue  of  a  decree  dated  March  20,  1343,  the 
king  established,  for  his  own  benefit,  a  monopoly  of 
the  sale  of  salt  throughout  the  kingdom  of  France. 
Commissioners  were  appointed  whose  business  it  was 
to  open  stores,  where  every  family  was  compelled  to 
buy  salt. 

The  government  fixed  the  amount  of  the  tax  at  its 
own  pleasure.  No  one  but  the  government  was  allowed 
to  sell  any  salt  whatever. 

This  monopoly  was  one  of  the  most  oppressive  that  any 
ruler  ever  fixed  upon  his  people,  and  it  was  one  of  the 
prime  causes  of  the  French  Revolution. 

Philip  the  Fortunate  was  succeeded  (1350)  by  his  son    A.D. 
John  the  Good,  and  the  son  was  just  about  as  good  as  the 
father  had  been  fortunate. 

This  John  the  Good  began  his  reign  by  issuing  an  ordi- 
nance which  authorized  the  nobles  to  suspend  the  payment 
of  their  private  debts;  and  this  act  of  repudiation  was 


206  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

followed  by  wholesale  and  fraudulent  alterations  of  the 
currency  which  he  attempted  to  conceal. 

On  suspicion,  he  brutally  slew  the  constable,  D'Eu, 
chief  adviser  of  the  late  king.  Imitating  the  folly  of  his 
father,  he  drove  into  frantic  opposition  the  young  king  of 
Navarre,  who  was  a  grandson  of  Louis  the  Quarrelsome, 
by  the  marriage  into  the  house  of  Navarre  of  a  daughter 
of  that  king,  and  who  was  therefore  the  rightful  heir  to 
the  throne  of  France,  if  the  decision  in  the  Robert  of 
Artois  case  was  good  law. 

Here  is  a  strange  state  of  affairs ;  the  Valois  kings  are 
excluding  the  direct  heirs  from  the  throne  of  France  by 
virtue  of  the  Salic  Law,  and  yet  these  very  kings  have 
been  mad  enough  to  set  aside  the  Salic  Law  in  so  promi- 
nent a  case  as  that  of  Robert  of  Artois. 

Is  it  unnatural  that  the  young  king  of  Navarre  should 
wish  to  ignore  a  law  which  the  king  himself  ignores,  when 
it  suits  his  purpose  to  do  so  ?  Is  it  not  the  height  of  folly 
for  the  king  of  France  to  keep  so  grave  a  question  open  ? 

Losing  sight  of  all  prudence,  John  the  Good  strips 
Navarre  of  Champagne,  and  gives  another  of  his  counties 
to  the  new  favourite,  Charles  of  Spain,  the  false  coiner  of 
the  king. 

Navarre,  driven  to  desperation,  kills  the  favourite,  and 
attempts  the  life  of  the  king.  He  is  thrown  into  prison 
and  made  to  sue  for  pardon  on  his  knees.  Henceforth  he 
is  known  in  the  chronicles  of  John  the  Good  as  Charles 
the  Bad. 

About  this  time,  the  nobles  whom  the  king  had  relieved 
from  debt-paying,  began  to  claim  pay  for  military  service. 
The  king  concedes  the  demand,  and  thus  the  crown's  finan- 
cial necessities  increase.  To  relieve  them,  the  States 


xin  THE    HUNDRED   YEARS'    WAR  207 

General  are  frequently  convoked,  and  many  reforms  prom- 
ised ;  thus  the  greed  of  the  nobles  indirectly  builds  up  the 
popular  element  in  the  State,  the  Third  Estate. 

One  of  the  reforms  most  urgently  clamoured  for  was 
the  abolition  of  the  right  of  prisage.  By  this  monstrous 
feudal  usage,  the  servants  of  the  king  were  authorized  to 
go  into  the  markets,  the  shops,  the  streets,  and  seize  food, 
raiment,  furniture, — anything  that  might  be  necessary  to 
the  personal  service  of  the  king  and  his  family  and  his 
attendant  lords.  Of  course,  the  servants  would  not  have 
been  human  had  they  not  also  seized  enough  for  them- 
selves. 

That  such  an  abuse  should  exist,  should  be  tolerated 
from  reign  to  reign,  is  well-nigh  incredible ;  but  it  is  a 
fact  nevertheless. 

Philip,  in  1346,  had  agreed  to  limit  this  right  of  prisage 
"to  what  would  suffice  for  the  maintenance  of  his  house, 
of  his  dear  companion  the  queen,  and  of  his  children." 

Reforms  were  promised,  but  not  made.  Abuses  con- 
tinued and  taxes  increased.  The  States  General  de- 
manded the  right  to  see  the  royal  accounts,  scrutinize 
expenditures,  and  to  decide  on  taxes.  But,  as  evidence  of 
its  loyalty,  the  assembly  voted  a  grant  of  6,000,000  livres 
to  equip  an  army  of  30,000  infantry. 

This  sum  was  to  be  raised  by  two  taxes,  the  one  on 
salt,  the  other  on  sales  of  goods.  These  taxes  were  to  fall 
upon  prince  and  peasant  alike.  In  consequence,  the 
princes  revolted. 

The  States  General  gave  way,  and  repealed  the  taxes. 
In  their  place,  an  income  tax  of  five  per  cent  on  the  poor, 
and  two  per  cent  on  the  rich,  was  imposed.  Even  this  tax 
was  resisted  by  the  nobles.  They  were  bent  upon  maintain- 


208  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

ing  their  exemptions  from  public  burdens,  at  the  same 
time  that  they  put  forward  the  demand  for  pay  for  mili- 
tary service. 

Charles  the  Bad  fed  the  flames  of  this  feud,  and  John 
the  Good  pounced  upon  him  at  Rouen  where  Charles  had 
been  invited  to  a  banquet  by  John's  son.  The  banquet 
was  going  forward  right  merrily  when  in  stepped  the  king 
of  France,  his  face  black  with  wrath.  Armed  men  were 
at  his  back ;  the  guests  were  at  his  mercy.  But  for  the 
entreaties  of  his  son,  the  king  would  have  slain  all  these 
guests  then  and  there.  As  it  was,  and  because  of  his 
being  John  the  Good,  he  only  slew  four  of  them,  and 
flung  the  king  of  Navarre  into  prison. 

Into  this  distracted  land  now  came  the  English  again 
—  Edward  III.,  and  his  still  greater  son,  the  Black 
Prince.  They  pillaged  and  plundered,  they  harried  and 
hunted,  they  burned  and  demolished,  they  slew  and  they 
ravished,  almost  at  their  own  free  will.  At  one  time  they 
brought  back  into  Bordeaux  5000  wagon-loads  of  spoil. 
A-D-  King  John  raised  an  army,  encountered  the  enemy 
at  Poitiers,  and  got  as  soundly  beaten  as  his  fortunate 
father  had  done  at  Cressy  (1356).  The  French  lost 
11,000,  the  English  2500. 

Among  the  prisoners  was  the  king  of  France.  This 
great  imbecile  was  carried  to  England,  was  lodged  royally 
in  London,  and  had  rather  an  easier  time  there  than  he  had 
ever  known  in  France. 

During  his  captivity  the  utmost  confusion  existed  in 
France.  The  oldest  son  of  the  captive  monarch  was  at 
the  head  of  the  government,  in  appearance ;  but,  in  fact, 
the  land  was  ruled  by  a  cabal  of  powerful  nobles.  The 
taxes  had  grown  so  heavy,  the  coinage  had  been  so  re- 


xiir  THE    HUNDRED   YEARS'    WAR  209 

peatedly  adulterated  in  order  that  the  king  might  fleece 
the  business  men,  that  the  merchants  and  common  people 
in  Paris  rose  in  rebellion.  They  even  broke  into  the  room 
of  the  prince  himself  and  murdered  two  of  the  wicked 
nobles  who  were  responsible.  The  prince,  who  afterwards 
became  Charles  V.,  was  spattered  with  the  blood  of  the  A.D. 
unfortunate  victims,  and  was  greatly  frightened.  The  13°8 
leader  of  the  merchants,  Marcel,  assured  him  he  was  in 
no  danger ;  but  took  off  the  cap  the  prince  was  wearing, 
and  in  lieu  thereof  put  on  his  head  the  red  and  blue  cap 
of  the  insurgents. 

The  peasants  also  revolted,  committed  terrible  excesses, 
and  joined  forces  with  the  citizens  of  the  towns  in  the 
effort  to  free  themselves  from  the  tyranny  of  the  lords. 

Marcel  was  successful  for  a  time,  but  reaction  set  in ; 
the  aristocracy  organized,  the  commons  divided,  as  usual, 
and  the  reform  movement  was  crushed  with  bloody 
severity.  Entering  into  an  alliance  with  Charles  the  Bad, 
Marcel  lost  his  life  at  the  hands  of  the  indignant  partisans 
of  the  dauphin  Charles. 

Several  general  assemblies  of  the  aristocracy,  the  clergy, 
and  the  deputies  from  the  towns,  were  held  during  these 
years  and  the  people  boldly  demanded  reforms  of  the  most 
sweeping  character.  They  insisted  that  no  taxes  should 
be  levied  without  their  consent,  that  the  adulteration  of 
the  coinage  should  cease,  that  the  prince  should  be  assisted 
in  governing  the  country  by  a  council  of  leading  citizens 
chosen  by  the  general  assembly,  that  the  evil  counsellors 
who  had  given  the  prince  bad  advice  be  dismissed,  and 
that  the  general  assembly  should  have  the  privilege  of 
meeting  twice  a  year  to  see  to  it  that  the  laws  were  hon- 
estly enforced. 


210  THE   STORY  OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

This  was  a  reasonable  scheme,  looking  to  the  good  of 
all  classes.  Its  main  object  was  to  put  a  limit  upon  the 
power  of  the  king,  and  to  give  the  mass  of  the  people  a 
hand  in  their  own  government. 

Fair  promises  were  made,  but  none  of  them  were  kept. 
The  kings  were  nearly  always  ready  with  pretences  that 
order  should  be  restored,  and  unjust  taxes  removed,  but 
the  day  of  performance  could  not  be  reached. 

King  John  the  Good  had  himself  given  a  handsome 
example  of  the  way  monarchs  treat  subjects. 

Released  from  captivity  upon  certain  conditions,  he 
returned  to  France  and  at  once  made  up  lost  time  by 
levying  a  new  tax  upon  all  merchandise  sold  in  France, 
or  exported,  a  tax  on  salt,  and  a  tax  on  wine.  These 
devices  not  securing  quite  as  much  cash  as  he  wished,  he 
borrowed  large  sums,  which  were  saddled  on  the  tax- 
payers ;  and  he  sold  to  the  Jews,  for  a  high  price,  certain 
business  privileges  which  were  forbidden  by  law. 

With  the  sums  thus  garnered  in,  this  good  king  did  not 
try  to  put  down  the  bands  of  robbers  who  were  pillaging 
the  country  from  end  to  end,  did  not  seek  to  alleviate  the 
sufferings  of  the  disabled  soldiers  who  had  lost  limbs  in 
his  service,  did  not  spend  a  cent  upon  the  widows  and 
orphans  of  those '  unfortunate  peasants  who  had  died  on 
the  march  to  the  field. 

He  gathered  up  a  glittering  train  of  noble  lords  and 
ladies,  a  luminous  assortment  of  libertines,  swashbucklers, 
adventurers,  and  courtesans,  and,  going  into  the  south  of 
France,  he  spent  six  riotous  months  in  feasts,  festivities, 
and  debaucheries.  At  the  end  of  that  season  of  revel  and 
dissolute  pleasures  the  money  was  all  gone. 

So  the  good  King  John,  having  spent  the  last  franc  he 


xiii  THE    HUNDRED   YEARS'    WAR  211 

could  squeeze  out  of  the  French,  left  them  to  their  squalor 
and  wretchedness,  chivalrously  surrendered  himself  to  the 
English  because  his  son  had  broken  the  terms  of  the  parol, 
and  went  back  to  the  luxurious  quarters  which  were  pro- 
vided for  him  in  London.  Here  he  fared  sumptuously 
at  the  expense  of  the  taxpayers  of  France. 

Instead  of  the  vaunted  hospitality  of  which  English  his- 
torians boast,  King  John  was  charged  for  as  a  boarder  at 
the  rate  of  10,000  reals  per  month,  and  every  coin  that 
was  paid  England  for  ransom,  and  for  keep  of  this  abomi- 
nable king,  was  wrung  from  the  wretched  middle  classes 
of  France. 

As  a  final  stab  at  his  afflicted  country,  this  unspeakable 
John  the  Good  ceded  Burgundy  to  his  son  Philip ;  and 
this  laid  the  foundation  for  infinite  strife,  bloodshed,  and 
devastation  in  the  years  that  were  to  come.  As  an  archi- 
tect of  ruin,  John  the  Good  was  a  tremendous  success. 
He  died  in  the  Savoy  Palace,  London,  in  1364. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

CHARLES   THE  FIFTH  AND  CHAKLES   THE  SIXTH 
WARS  WITH  ENGLAND 
(1364-1380) 

/CHARLES  V.,  or  the  Wise,  was  twenty-seven  years  old 
when  the  death  of  John  made  him,  in  name  as  well  as 
in  fact,  king  of  the  unhappy  realm. 

A.D.  France  had  been  brought  to  the  brink  of  destruction 
13G4  by  two  kings  who  were  brave,  extravagant,  and  heedless 
knights-errant ;  she  was  to  be  rescued  by  a  coward  who 
had  run  away  from  Poitiers,  who  never  appeared  in  the 
lists,  who  could  hardly  lift  a  lance,  who  was  miserly  with 
his  money,  and  who,  instead  of  playing  at  knight-errantry, 
sat  in  a  corner  within  the  palace  and  spun  the  spider- 
webs  of  diplomacy. 

Sickly  and  weak,  fond  of  books  and  of  seclusion,  Charles 
the  Wise  gave  no  promise  of  fitness  to  deal  with  his  peril- 
ous surroundings.  Gradually  it  appeared  that  he  had 
mastered  the  difficult  case,  and  knew  how  to  win  it. 

By  the  Treaty  of  Bretigny  (1360)  Edward  III.  had 
obtained  a  large  portion  of  French  territory,  besides  the 
ransom  of  King  John,  3,000,000  gold  crowns ;  but  the 
troubles  in  Brittany  and  the  feud  with  Charles  the  Bad 
yet  existed.  Bands  of  mercenary  troops  called  the  Free 
Companies  raided  the  kingdom,  held  captives  for  ran- 
som, plundered  travellers,  and  pillaged  towns.  Some  of 

212 


CHAP,  xiv    CHARLES  THE  FIFTH  AND  CHARLES  THE  SIXTH    213 

the  leaders  of  these  robber  bands  took  possession  of  cities 
and  ruled  them  as  fejidal  lords,  exacting  tribute  and  liv- 
ing in  royal  state.  Merchants  travelling  from  one  part  of 
the  country  to  the  other  were  compelled  to  buy  passes. 
A  merchant  without  a  pass  was  legitimate  prey  and  was 
plundered  without  mercy. 

Thus  the  feeble-bodied  king  was  confronted  by  troubles 
internal  and  external,  the  English,  the  Free  Companies, 
and  the  Navarre  feud. 

A  stalwart  figure  moves  slowly  to  the  front  amid  the 
changing  fortunes  of  civil  war,  and  becomes  at  length 
the  hope  and  hero  of  France.  It  is  Bertrand  du  Guesclin. 
Never  was  there  a  knight  more  bold,  more  valiant,  more 
magnetic,  more  true  to  king  and  country.  Sprung  from 
a  good  family  in  Brittany,  but  unloved  of  his  parents 
because  of  his  ugliness  and  his  combative  nature,  he  had 
at  an  early  age  broken  away  from  home,  and  become  a 
free-lance  in  the  civil  wars. 

Of  moderate  height,  dark  complexion,  flat  nose,  green 
eyes,  broad  shoulders,  long  arms,  and  small  hands,  Du 
Guesclin  was  no  perfumed  dandy  of  court  festivities. 
He  was  a  rough  and  ready  fighter,  full  of  daring,  of  re- 
source, of  stratagem,  and  of  bulldog  tenacity. 

It  was  not  by  any  sudden  bound  that  he  won  fame. 
For  many  years  his  reputation  was  entirely  local  and  his 
deeds  of  daring  confined  to  petty  skirmishes  and  individ- 
ual combats.  He  was  as  ready,  at  the  beginning  of  his 
career,  to  risk  his  life  in  hand-to-hand  fights,  as  he  was 
afterwards  careful,  as  general-in-chief,  not  to  do  so.  The 
leader  who  could  in  after  years  wisely  reprove  the  Duke 
of  Bourbon  for  risking  himself  like  a  common  soldier,  was 
in  his  earlier  days  the  rashest  of  knights,  eager  for  a 


214  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

life-and-death  tilt  with  any  champion  England  could  put 
forward.  Before  he  had  proven  his  ability  to  beat  his 
enemies  collectively,  he  had  demonstrated,  to  their  entire 
satisfaction,  his  ability  to  do  it  individually.  Challenger 
after  challenger  went  down  in  the  dust  before  this  fearless 
and  powerful  Breton. 

Tender-hearted  as  a  woman,  open-handed  as  a  prince, 
free  and  easy  as  hail-fellow-well-met,  he  was  the  idol  of 
the  French,  without  being  personally  hated  by  the  English. 

"Take  off  your  helmet,  Bertram,  and  let  me  kiss  you," 
said  his  aunt,  tearfully,  one  day  when  he  was  about  to 
leave  Rennes  and  go  forth  to  meet  single-handed  the 
champion  of  the  English,  Sir  William  Blancbourg,  who 
had  defied  him  to  mortal  combat. 

The  good  aunt  thought  he  would  never  come  home 
alive,  and  wanted  one  last,  lingering,  sentimental,  fare- 
well-world kiss. 

Not  so  Bertram.  He  was  wasting  no  time  thinking 
about  his  failure.  He  fully  intended  that  the  other  man 
should  be  the  subject  of  the  tears  and  the  lamentations. 

"  Let  me  kiss  you,  Bertram,"  sobs  the  good  aunt,  with 
a  genuine  look  of  sorrow  on  her  wrinkled  face. 

"Bah,"  says  Bertram,  with  a  grunt  of  disdain,  good- 
natured  but  emphatic  ;  "  go  home  and  kiss  your  husband, 
and  get  dinner  ready  by  the  time  I  get  back  ;  by  God's 
help  I  mean  to  return  before  the  fire  is  lit." 

A  flash  like  this  shows  us  better  than  pages  of  descrip- 
tion what  sort  of  spirit  buoyed  the  dauntless  soldier.  He 
rode  forth  that  day,  gallantly  downed  the  Englishman, 
and  was  back  to  dinner  on  time. 

Finally,  after  many  years  of  constant  activity,  in  which 
he  had  signalized  his  courage  and  his  capacity,  his  name 


xiv       CHARLES  THE  FIFTH  AND  CHARLES  THE  SIXTH       215 

reached  the  ears  of  the  king.  Charles  had  the  rare  fac- 
ulty of  judging  other  men  correctly.  He  was  not  able  to 
do  great  deeds  himself,  but  he  was  gifted  with  the  power 
to  select  those  who  could.  He  knew  a  superior  man  when 
he  saw  him. 

Du  Guesclin  had  at  last  caught  the  eye  of  the  watchful 
monarch,  and  henceforth  his  career  had  all  France  for  its 
stage. 

He  was  commissioned  to  deal  with  Navarre,  who  was 
still  making  trouble,  aided  by  the  English. 

At  Cocherel  (1364),  Du  Guesclin  defeated  these  com- 
bined forces,  and  inspired  his  countrymen  with  the  first 
victory  the  French  had  won  against  the  English  in  the 
open  field.  This  victory  brought  Charles  the  Bad  to 
terms,  and  thus  one  source  of  danger  was  removed.  De- 
feated by  Chandos,  at  the  battle  of  Auray  (1364),  Du 
Guesclin  is  captured. 

The  king  has  need  of  him,  and  pays  his  ransom ;  and 
again  the  stout  warrior  is  ready  for  work.  The  task  at 
which  he  is  set  is  that  of  ridding  France  of  the  Free 
Companies.  He  sets  about  it  with  cheerful  promptness  ; 
invites  the  captains  of  these  pestiferous  robbers  to  a  con- 
ference ;  proposes  a  grand  pillaging  expedition  against  A.D. 
Castile,  and  accepts  the  position  of  commander-in-chief  of  1366 
the  enterprise.  The  route  of  these  marauders  led  them 
by  Avignon,  where  the  Pope  then  lived,  and  their  ap- 
proach alarmed  the  Holy  Father.  A  cardinal  is  sent  to 
inquire  of  Du  Guesclin  what  it  all  means.  That  worthy 
soldier,  being  a  good  Christian  and  not  devoid  of  humour, 
replies  gravely  that  he  is  out  on  a  crusade  against  the 
Moors  of  Spain,  and  that  he  and  his  companions,  being 
sinful  men,  thought  it  most  proper  to  call  and  see  his 


216  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Holiness,  and  ask  absolution  for  their  sins.  Furthermore, 
as  they  were  engaged  against  infidels,  and  would  need 
money  for  travelling  expenses,  they  had  thought  of  ask- 
ing the  Pope  for  200,000  florins  to  aid  them  in  their  pious 
designs. 

No  remonstrance  or  compromise  availing,  the  Holy 
Father  grants  both  the  money  and  the  absolution.  Hav- 
ing committed  this  preliminary  robbery,  and  obtained  for- 
giveness for  it,  Du  Guesclin  leads  his  army  onward  into 
Castile,  where  two  brothers  are  disputing  the  throne,  and 
each  calling  the  other  bastard.  Peter  the  Cruel  is  in  pos- 
session, Henry  of  Trastamare  is  claimant.  Du  Guesclin's 
army  catches  Pedro  unprepared,  and  he  runs  away,  like 
a  man  of  sound  judgment.  Henry  of  Trastamare  takes 
possession. 

But  Pedro  has  gone  to  the  Black  Prince,  who  is  living 
and  ruling  in  Bordeaux,  near  by,  and  demands  aid  of 
England.  In  high,  chivalric  fashion  this  help  is  asked  ; 
one  knight,  cruelly  disinherited,  imploring  assistance  from 
another.  Incidentally,  Pedro  mentions  that  he  will  cede 
to  the  English  the  whole  province  of  Biscay,  and  pay 
them  600,000  florins  in  gold. 

Bugles  blare,  war  steeds  neigh,  armour  clashes  and 
clangs,  and  off  go  the  Black  Prince  and  his  mail-clad 
warriors,  in  all  the  glory  of  chivalric  zeal,  to  put  Pedro 
back  on  his  throne.  Over  the  Pyrenees  they  stream,  and 
A.D.  make  for  the  Ebro.  Du  Guesclin  cautions  Henry,  tells 
him  to  wait  and  starve  the  English  out.  Henry  will 
not  wait ;  insists  on  fighting,  fights,  and  gets  ruinously 
beaten.  Du  Guesclin  is  again  a  prisoner:  Henry  a  fugi- 
tive, Pedro  a  king,  and  the  Black  Prince  the  paragon  of 
all  romantic  heroes. 


xiv       CHARLES  THE  FIFTH  AND  CHARLES  THE  SIXTH       217 

But  he  wants  his  money,  nevertheless  ;  and  he  men- 
tions the  matter  to  Pedro.  The  restored  king  feels  strong 
again,  and  makes  difficulties  about  payment.  The  money 
cannot  be  had.  The  English  troops  clamour  for  pay. 
Chivalric  ardour  is  good,  but  one  cannot  live  upon  it 
permanently.  Pedro  pays  nothing,  and  the  Black  Prince 
retires  from  Castile  deeply  disgusted  and  annoyingly 
short  of  money.  To  get  needed  funds,  what  shall  he  do 
but  tax  his  good  people  of  Gascony  ?  Consequently  they 
are  asked  to  pay  a  certain  sum  for  every  hearth  in  all  the 
province.  Immense  indignation  takes  possession  of  these 
Gascons,  and  they  not  only  refuse  to  pay  the  hearth-tax, 
but  they  appeal  directly  to  King  Charles  at  Paris,  who  is 
nominally  the  feudal  suzerain  of  the  province. 

This  studious  observer  of  events  believes  the  English 
are  growing  weak  enough  to  be  assailed,  and  he  encourages 
the  Gascon  rebellion.  As  feudal  lord  of  that  province, 
he  summons  the  Black  Prince  to  Paris  to  answer  upon 
the  matter  of  the  hearth-tax. 

"I  will  go,"  says  the  English  prince,  "but  it  will  be    A.D. 
with  helmet  on  head  and  60,000  men  at  my  back." 

Such  being  the  signs  of  the  times,  Du  Guesclin  is  not 
the  man  to  remain  in  prison.  He  is  ransomed  again,  at  a 
huge  sum  fixed  by  himself.  "  Where  will  you  get  all  this 
money?"  asks  the  Black  Prince. 

"  If  Henry  of  Trastamare  and  the  king  of  France  will 
not  pay  it,"  says  Du  Guesclin,  "  there  is  not  a  spinster  in 
France  who  can  twist  a  thread  that  will  not  aid  me." 

The  ransom  was  readily  raised  among  Du  Guesclin's 
friends,  even  John  Chandos,  the  English  general,  offer- 
ing to  lend  him  part  of  the  money. 

Going  back  to  Castile,  with  a  sufficient  force  made  up 


218  THE   STOKY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

A.D.  of  the  Free  Companies,  he  gives  battle  to  Pedro,  and 
1369  defeats  him  at  Montiel.  A  few  nights  afterwards,  Pedro 
is  captured  as  he  attempts  to  steal  through  Du  Guesclin's 
lines  out  of  the  castle  of  Montiel.  He  is  carried  to 
Du  Guesclin's  tent,  and  in  comes  Henry  of  Trastamare, 
his  brother  —  his  deadliest  foe. 

"  Where  is  this  son  of  a  Jewish  wanton  who  calls  him- 
self king  of  Castile  ?  "  cries  Henry,  as  he  enters  the  tent. 

Pedro  steps  forward  and,  "  Why,  thou  art  the  son  of  a 
wanton  and  I  am  the  son  of  Alphonso,"  answered  he. 

They  clinch,  struggle,  fall  —  Henry  underneath.  Pedro 
reaches  for  his  dagger.  A  friend  of  Henry's  catches 
Pedro  by  the  legs,  and  turns  him  ;  and  now  Henry  is  on 
top.  Out  comes  his  poniard,  and  into  Pedro  it  goes  ;  and 
he  dies,  and  his  brother  reigns  peaceably  ever  afterwards. 

In  this  circuitous  manner,  Du  Guesclin  has  settled  two 
of  the  vexed  questions  of  the  hour  :  Navarre  is  now  the 
ally  of  France,  and  the  Free  Companies  have  found  homes 
in  Castile ;  in  fact,  the  greater  number  of  them  have 
found  homes  so  permanent  that  only  Gabriel's  trumpet 
will  ever  move  them  out  again. 

One  vexed  question  still  remains,  —  the  English  occu- 
pation. 

But  Charles  is  ready  ;  Edward  is  not.  Charles  has 
money,  a  good  general,  youth,  and  a  united  nation  at 
his  back.  Emboldened  by  the  strength  of  his  position, 
he  insultingly  defies  King  Edward,  sending  him  a  chal- 
lenge by  a  kitchen-serving  lad. 

Edward  is  old,  and  has  fallen  upon  evil  ways.  His 
glory  was  great,  but  he  has  tarnished  it.  He  has  sunk 
into  debauchery  ;  he  is  the  slave  of  a  lewd  woman  ;  honour 
is  his  no  more.  He  has  repudiated  his  debts,  and  ruined 


xiv       CHARLES  THE  FIFTH  AND  CHARLES  THE  SIXTH       219 

those  who  trusted  him.  One  of  his  sons  is  dead ;  another, 
the  Black  Prince,  is  dying.  It  is  the  time  of  the  sere 
and  yellow  leaf  with  Edward,  and  his  foes  know  it. 

While  Edward  has  been  carousing,  and  his  son  has  been 
stirring  up  troubles  for  himself  in  his  French  dominions, 
Charles  the  Wise  has  been  husbanding  his  resources, 
making  friends,  and  mustering  troops.  He  has  culti- 
vated the  Church  with  demure  assiduity ;  has  walked 
barefooted  in  processions ;  has  remembered  the  Pope  with 
goodly  gifts,  and  the  priests  have  begun  to  preach  for 
him.  The  Free  Companies  are  bought  over,  bishops  open 
the  gates  of  their  cities,  castles  begin  mysteriously  to 
give  themselves  to  the  French  ;  and  the  Black  Prince,  to 
his  profound  surprise,  discovers  that  the  entire  English 
position  is  undermined.  Even  Limoges  turned  French,  A.D. 
led  over  by  her  bishops.  In  unbounded  wrath  the  Black  137° 
Prince  roused  himself,  rushed  upon  the  recreant  city, 
stormed  it,  took  it,  sacked  it,  and  slaughtered  its  people, 
—  three  thousand  men,  women,  and  children  in  one  black 
day  of  blood  and  sin. 

That  was  the  last  triumph  in  France,  or  elsewhere. 
He  dragged  his  worn-out  frame  to  London,  and  soon 
died  —  a  true  type  of  the  Norman  knight,  proud,  over- 
bearing, brave,  capable,  and  pitiless  to  those  who  were 
out  of  his  class. 

The  tide  of  French  success  rolled  steadily  on.  Town 
after  town  came  back  to  French  allegiance.  The  English 
forces  could  do  nothing.  The  French  had  orders  not  to 
fight  pitched  battles  ;  the  Fabian  policy  was  winning  its 
way  ;  all  that  was  needed  was  patience,  vigilance,  and 
time. 

John  Chandos,  the  great  English  captain,  threw  away 


220  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

his  life  in  a  wretched  night-raid,  and  the  English  were 
thus  bereft  of  the  renowned  leaders  who  had  led  them 
to  such  marvellous  victories. 

Du  Guesclin,  made  constable  of  France,  becomes  gen- 
eral-in-chief  of  all  her  forces.  He  could  "  neither  read, 
write,  nor  cipher "  ;  but  he  knew  how  to  win  his  way 
against  the  English,  and  so  the  king  put  the  realm  in 
his  hands. 

Henry  of  Trastamare,  grateful  for  the  French  aid  which 

had  put  him  on  the  throne  of  Castile,  and,  alarmed  at 

English  encroachments  in  his  direction,  sent  his  fleet  to 

AJ>-    help  the  French.     Off  Rochelle,  the  Spanish  fleet  defeated 

the  English,  and  sank  their   ships.     This   event  threw 

Poitou  back  into  French  hands  ;  Brittany  soon  followed. 

A.D.        Another  English  army  comes  over,  finds  no  foe  in  the 

1373   Open  field,  marches  clear  across  the  ruined  country,  suffers 

greatly  on  the  march,  and  when  this  force,  which  had  left 

Calais  with  30,000  horses,  reached  Bordeaux,  it  was  on 

foot. 

Even  the  Gascons  then  turned  to  France,  and  the 
English  were  reduced  to  three  places,  —  Calais,  Bayonne, 
and  Bordeaux  (1380). 

Charles  the  Wise  now  unwisely  enbroiled  himself  with 
the  Bretons.  The  duchy  was  semi-independent,  and  in 
all  local  affairs  was  wholly  so.  Charles  tried  to  seize  it 
and  reduce  it  to  a  royal  province.  The  Bretons  flew  to 
arms,  and  Charles  was  driven  out. 

Du  Guesclin  himself  was  a  Breton,  and  thousands  of 

his  countrymen  had  been  fighting  the  battles  of  France 

A.D.    all   these  years.     The  old  soldier  could  not  follow  the 

1380   king  in  this  ungrateful  war,  and  he  gave  back  his  sword 

of  constable. 


xiv        CHARLES  THE  FIFTH  AND  CHARLES  THE  SIXTH       221 

Nevertheless,  he  went  to  besiege,  in  the  castle  of  Ran- 
don,  a  band  of  marauders  who  had  been  plundering  the 
surrounding  country.  Here  he  fell  sick  and  died  (1380). 
The  castle  surrendered  next  day,  and  the  keys  were  laid 
upon  Du  Guesclin's  bier,  the  captain  of  the  besieged  hav- 
ing vowed  to  surrender  to  no  one  less  than  the  dead  hero. 

For  hero  he  was,  the  Wallace  of  his  country,  the 
national  champion  at  whose  magnetic  touch  sleeping 
courage  sprang  into  life,  and  a  great  nation,  shaking  off 
its  fear  and  its  feuds,  redeemed  itself  from  foreign  rule. 

Most  fitting  was  it  for  the  king  to  ask  that  this  loyal 
soldier  be  buried  by  his  own  side.  Even  in  death  the 
weak  felt  the  need  of  the  strong.  Within  a  few  months 
the  monarch  followed  the  subject ;  and  by  the  side  of 
him  who  had  worn  the  crown  slept  the  dauntless  warrior 
who  had  restored  it. 

Charles  the  Wise  died  in  September,  1380,  after  hav- 
ing abolished  every  tax  not  authorized  by  the  national 
assembly.  He  had  amassed  a  treasure  of  seventeen  million 
livres  —  great  for  that  day  —  had  collected  a  library  of  nine 
hundred  and  ten  volumes,  which  became  the  nucleus  of  the 
national  library  ;  and  had  commenced  the  building  of  the 
Bastille,  the  fortress  prison  so  ominously  identified  with 
French  history. 

For  all  his  wisdom,  Charles  was  a  firm  believer  in 
astrology,  and  a  state  astrologer  was  one  of  the  honoured 
and  salaried  officials  of  his  administration.  It  was  this 
man's  sworn  duty  to  tell  the  king  what  was  going  to 
happen,  so  that  the  king  might  take  measures  to  keep  it 
from  happening.  The  daughter  of  the  state  astrologer 
became  the  historian  of  Charles'  reign :  her  name  was 
Christine  de  Pisan. 


222  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

A.U.  Charles  the  Wise  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Charles  VI., 
1  who  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death  was  not  twelve  years 
old.  He  had  four  uncles,  and  no  one  of  them  was  good. 

The  oldest  of  these  uncles,  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  was  hid- 
den in  the  adjoining  room  while  his  brother  the  king  was 
dying  ;  and  when  the  monarch  had  breathed  his  last, 
Anjou  stepped  into  the  room  and  laid  hands  upon  the 
crown  jewels,  the  gold  and  silverware,  and  demanded  to 
know  where  the  treasure  of  the  dead  king  was  secreted. 

The  treasurer  said  he  had  sworn  not  to  tell.  Anjou 
sent  for  the  headsman  and  said,  pointing  to  the  treasurer, 
"Cut  that  man's  head  off."  The  treasurer  told  where  the 
money  was  hid,  and  Anjou  took  it. 

By  reason  of  his  seniority,  Anjou  claimed  the  regency, 
and  his  right  was  acknowledged.  For  nearly  two  years 
he  was  engaged  in  levying  illegal  taxes  for  the  purpose 
of  extorting  money  enough  to  lead  an  army  into  Italy, 
in  support  of  his  pretensions  to  the  throne  of  Naples. 
These  tax  levies  provoked  riots  and  bloodshed ;  but 
eventually  the  necessary  funds  were  raised,  and  Anjou 
set  off  on  his  campaign ;  but  once  arrived  in  Italy,  his 
army  wasted  away  and  perished  ignobly,  and  so  did  he. 

Not  only  did  the  towns  resist  Anjou's  greedy  demands, 
but  the  peasants,  maddened  by  so  many  generations  of 
wrong,  rose  in  revolt,  made  war  on  the  rich,  and  com- 
mitted dreadful  outrages.  They  burned  chateaux,  vio- 
lated the  wives  and  daughters  of  the  nobles,  and  roasted 
the  lords  themselves  at  the  stake.  They  were  frenzied 
in  their  rage  against  the  nobility  as  a  class,  and  wanted 
to  exterminate  it.  All  whose  hands  were  not  hardened 
by  toil  were  slain. 

The  higher  classes  rallied  their  forces,  and  the  steel- 


xiv       CHARLES  THE  FIFTH  AND  CHARLES  THE  SIXTH       223 

clad  knights,  armed  with  lance  and  sword,  found  no  diffi- 
culty in  butchering  the  ragged,  unarmed  wretches,  and 
putting  down  the  revolt. 

After  Anjou  had  gone,  the  Dukes  of  Burgundy  and 
Berry,  who  were  also  the  king's  uncles,  took  charge  of 
their  nephew  and  of  his  kingdom. 

The  Flemings  having  risen  against  their  French  count, 
because  of  his  violation  of  their  liberties,  the  young  king 
of  France,  at  the  head  of  a  large  army,  was  marched  by 
his  uncles  into  Flanders  (1382),  and  won  the  battle  of  A.D. 

1  OQO 

Roosebeke.  That  is  to  say,  he  looked  on  from  a  distance, 
while  his  troops  cut  down  the  Flemings,  who  had  packed 
themselves  in  such  close  array  that  they  could  neither 
run  nor  fight.  The  towns  of  Flanders  were  then  pillaged 
and  burnt.  The  city  of  Courtray  was  utterly  destroyed, 
and  its  inhabitants  massacred,  for  no  other  cause  than  that 
the  French  had  suffered  a  defeat  there  many  years  before. 
The  young  king  then  marched  back  to  Paris,  where 
the  citizens  were  still  in  a  half -rebellious  state,  resulting 
from  the  illegal  exactions  of  the  Duke  of  Anjou.  Great 
was  the  fear  in  the  capital  as  the  victorious  army  returned. 
The  royal  uncles  set  to  work  immediately  to  inaugurate 
a  reign  of  terror.  Scaffolds  and  stakes  were  made  ready, 
and  hundreds  of  the  leading  citizens  sent  to  their  death. 
Sweeping  confiscations  were  made,  ruinous  fines  imposed 
—  all  to  the  profit  of  the  royal  uncles. 

The  war  in  Flanders  had  not  been  ended ;  heroic  re- 
sistance was  being  made  to  French  aggression,  and,  in 
the  end,  it  was  partially  successful.  The  Count  of 
Flanders  was  stabbed  to  death  by  the  Duke  of  Berry,  and 
peace  with  the  Flemings  followed.  The  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy, the  royal  uncle,  reaped  all  the  benefits  of  war. 


224  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

During  the  course  of  this  year  (1384)  war  again  broke 
out  between  France  and  England.  A  French  army  was 
sent  into  Scotland,  and  immense  preparations  were  made 
to  invade  England  itself.  Delays  occurred,  adverse  winds 
set  in,  the  opportunity  passed,  and  the  enterprise  was 
abandoned,  after  it  had  cost  3,000,000  livres.  The  army 
sent  to  aid  the  Scotch  was  defeated. 

The  young  king  was  exhausting  himself,  mentally  and 
physically,  in  a  perpetual  round  of  feastings,  tournaments, 
revelries,  and  gallantries.  Money  was  poured  out  like 
water  on  frivolities  and  sensualities.  At  the  age  of  six- 
teen his  uncles  wedded  him  to  Isabella  of  Bavaria,  aged 
fourteen,  —  a  fatal  marriage. 

The  royal  uncles  were  adding  enormously  to  their  own 
wealth  of  power,  but  the  kingdom  was  going  to  the  dogs. 
Justice  was  not  administered,  the  finances  were  plundered, 
public  security  was  wanting,  public  works  neglected  and 
unrepaired,  and  robbers  infested  the  highways. 
A.D.  The  cardinal  of  Laon  boldly  advised  the  king  to  assume 

1  000 

the  reins  of  government.  The  advice  was  accepted ;  the 
king  notified  his  uncles  that  he  would  henceforth  govern 
alone,  and  the  cardinal  of  Laon  died  suddenly,  under 
strong  suspicion  of  poison  administered  at  the  instance 
of  the  royal  uncles. 

The  king  called  back  to  the  royal  councils  the  old  min- 
isters of  his  father,  chief  of  whom  was  Olivier  de  Clisson. 
Reforms  were  at  once  effected.  Dishonest  officials  were 
dismissed,  taxes  were  lowered,  order  restored,  and  justice 
administered. 

These  counsellors  were  men  of  humble  birth,  new  men 
whom  Charles  the  Wise  had  selected  on  account  of  their 
natural  talents  and  worth.  The  nobles  despised  these 


xiv       CHARLES  THE  FIFTH  AND  CHARLES  THE  SIXTH       225 

new  men,  these  ".Marmousets,"  and  hated  them  with  a 
rancorous  hatred.  The  young  king  embarrassed  them 
cruelly  by  his  giddy  extravagance,  his  perpetual  and  un- 
limited demands  upon  the  treasury.  Taxes  soon  had  to 
be  raised  again.  Feasts,  tournaments,  masquerades,  balls, 
bacchanalian  revels,  followed  each  other  in  swift  succes- 
sion. Growing  weary  of  Paris,  the  king  and  his  licen- 
tious companions  made  a  tour  of  the  provinces,  and,  in 
each  city  where  they  stopped,  they  indulged  in  the  wild- 
est dissipation.  He  returned  to  Paris  worn  out  in  body 
and  mind,  old  at  twenty-two. 

The  royal  uncles,  in  1392,  determined  to  put  an  end  to 
the  Marmouset  government.  Clisson  was  set  upon  by 
their  hired  assassins,  and  left  for  dead  in  the  streets  of  Paris. 

The  king  was  intensely  excited  and  indignant,  and  he 
swore  to  bring  the  chief  assassin,  Peter  de  Craon,  to 
punishment. 

This  man  fled  to  Brittany,  whose  duke  refused  to 
deliver  him  up.  Charles  assembled  an  army,  and  in 
spite  of  the  obstacles  thrown  in  his  way  by  his  uncles  set 
out  for  Brittany. 

In  passing   through   the   forest   of   Le   Mans,  a  man,    A.D. 
clothed  in  white,  rushed  out,  seized  the  king's  bridle,  and   1392 
cried,  "Stop,  noble  king,  thou  art  betrayed."     The  man 
was  put  aside ;  but  he  followed  for  some  time,  crying  his 
weird  warning,  "Thou  art  betrayed." 

It  was  very  hot,  and  all  felt  the  effects  of  the  heat ;  a 
page,  carrying  the  king's  lance,  nodded  in  his  saddle,  and 
the  lance  clashed  against  a  helmet  with  a  loud  noise. 

"  Down  with  the  traitors, "  cried  the  king,  drawing  his 
sword  and  rushing  upon  his  escort.  He  killed  four  men 
before  they  could  stop  him.  He  had  gone  mad. 


226  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

The  dukes  again  seized  upon  the  government ;  banished 
Clisson,  threw  the  other  Marmousets  into  the  Bastille, 
and  signed  a  truce  of  twenty-eight  years  with  the  English. 
For  twenty-eight  years  Charles  VI.  continued  to  live, 
nominally  the  king  of  France,  but  really  a  lunatic,  with 
lucid  intervals,  in  the  hands  of  keepers. 

His  wife  lost  all  love  for  him,  his  uncles  made  a  mere 
political  puppet  of  him,  and  his  people  rarely  ever  saw 
him.  When  he  was  not  actually  mad,  his  reason  was  not 
capable  of  taking  in  all  his  surroundings  ;  and  those  who 
managed  him  drew  him  from  one  extreme  to  the  other. 
While  the  madness  was  on  him,  he  was  a  lunatic,  pure 
and  simple.  His  food  was  put  into  his  cell,  where  he  fell 
upon  it  like  a  starved  dog.  Filth,  vermin,  ulcers,  accu- 
mulated upon  his  poor  body,  until  it  was  hideously  foul. 
It  required  six  or  eight  men  to  catch  him,  hold  him,  wash 
him,  reclothe  him  ;  and  this  was  done  at  periods  far 
apart. 

His  heartless  wife  quit  him  entirely,  and  they  hired  a 
poor  girl,  Odette,  to  stay  with  him  as  his  wife.  She  was 
well  paid,  and  there  was  a  daughter  born  of  this  most 
detestable  arrangement.  The  queen,  in  the  meanwhile, 
pursued  her  pleasures,  which  were  of  many  different  sorts, 
one  of  them  being  a  criminal  relation  with  her  husband's 
brother,  the  Duke  of  Orleans. 

The  Marmousets  having  been  ousted  by  the  nobles, 
nothing  was  more  natural  than  that  the  nobles  should 
quarrel  among  themselves.  In  the  contest  for  control  of 
the  mad  king,  two  great  parties  appeared :  Orleans  at 
the  head  of  the  one,  and  Burgundy  of  the  other. 

France  was,  alternately,  the  prey  of  these  ferocious  fac- 
tions; and  tlie  mad  king  was  seized  and  controlled,  first 


xiv       CHARLES  THE  FIFTH  AND  CHARLES  THE  SIXTH        227 

by  one,  and  then  by  the  other.  As  to  the  people,  their 
condition  was  ever  the  same  :  they  were  plundered  impar- 
tially and  unmercifully  by  both. 

Sigismond,  king  of  Hungary,  being  hard  pressed  by  the  A.D. 
Turks,  besought  the  aid  of  France,  and  a  gallant  army 
headed  by  Burgundy's  son,  the  Count  of  Nevers,  goes  east- 
ward to  render  chivalric  aid.  The  Turks,  brutally  dis- 
regardful  of  chivalric  considerations,  overpower  these 
gallant  knights-errant  at  the  battle  of  Nicopolis  ;  and, 
many  prisoners  having  been  taken,  the  Sultan  Bajazet  has 
10,000  heads  chopped  off  by  way  of  permanent  warning 
to  European  chivalry. 

The  Count  of  Nevers  and  some  others  were  reserved 
for  ransom,  and  the  common  people  of  France  were  made 
to  pay  the  cost  of  getting  these  chivalrous  hotheads  home 
again.  The  amount  the  people  of  Burgundy  had  to  raise 
to  release  Nevers  was  200,000  crowns.  We  shall  pres- 
ently see  that  the  money  was  not  well  invested. 

The  Duke  of  Burgundy  died  in  1404,  and  the  king's    A.D. 
brother,  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  became  absolute  master  of 
the  kingdom. 

He  broke  the  truce  with  the  English ;  imposed  enor- 
mous taxes  which  he  shared  with  Queen  Isabella,  his 
paramour,  and  the  right  of  prisage  was  mercilessly  en- 
forced. Not  only  were  the  markets  invaded  by  the 
agents  of  the  nobles,  and  violent  hands  laid  upon  clothes, 
provisions,  and  furniture,  but  the  very  cottages  and  hospi- 
tals were  laid  under  contribution.  This  abuse  became  so 
intolerable  that  universal  rebellion  was  on  the  point  of 
breaking  out,  and  the  nobles  only  pacified  the  people  by 
suspending  the  right  for  four  years.  The  money  wrung 
from  the  commons  was  spent  by  the  nobles  in  riotous  living. 


228  THE   STORY  OF  PRANCE  CHAP. 

The  Count  of  Nevers,  now  Duke  of  Burgundy,  deter- 
mined to  contend  for  the  place  of  power  his  father  had 
occupied,  and  he  advanced  into  France  from  Flanders,  at 
the  head  of  an  army. 

Orleans  and  the  queen  retired  to  Melun ;  Burgundy 
took  possession  of  Paris,  where  he  made  himself  popular 
with  the  citizens. 

A  reconciliation  was  brought  about  between  Orleans 
and  Burgundy.  They  pledged  mutual  friendship,  and 
took  the  sacrament  together. 

A.D.  Not  long  afterwards,  Burgundy  caused  Orleans  to  be 
407  murdered  in  the  streets  of  Paris,  at  night  (1407).  After 
some  hesitation  and  denial,  Burgundy,  John  the  Fearless, 
confessed  the  crime,  justified  it,  and  made  ready  to  resist 
any  attempt  to  punish  it.  No  such  attempt  was  made  : 
royal  authority  was  too  weak.  John  the  Fearless,  after 
a  brief  sojourn  in  Burgundy,  returned  at  the  head  of  an 
army  and  took  possession  of  Paris.  He  made  his  terms 
with  the  Church  ;  and  Jean  Petit,  a  famous  doctor  of  the 
Sorbonne,  triumphantly  demonstrated,  in  an  address  de- 
livered in  presence  of  the  whole  court,  that  the  assassina- 
tion of  Orleans  was  a  godly  deed,  inspired  by  the  purest 
of  motives,  and  demanded  by  the  loftiest  considerations, 
religious  and  political.  Burgundy  consented  to  go  through 
the  ceremony  of  asking  pardon  of  the  king  for  the  murder 
of  his  brother,  and  the  pardon  was  granted  accordingly. 
The  unhappy  widow  of  Orleans  and  his  orphan  boys 
A.D.  were  required  to  forgive  the  murder,  and  to  sign  a  truce 
1409  with  him  (1409). 

Burgundy  was  now,  in  reality,  the  king  of  France,  and 
he  ruled  with  an  eye  single  to  the  profit  of  Burgundy. 

The  young  Duke  of  Orleans  married  the  daughter  of 


xiv       CHARLES  THE  FIFTH  AND  CHARLES  THE  SIXTH       229 

the  Count  of  Armagnac,  and  under  the  lead  of  this  new 
chief  the  Orleans  faction  again   appeared   in   arms.     A 
fierce  army  of  Gascons,  under  Armagnac,  advanced  upon 
Paris,  and  seized  the  surrounding  country.     Burgundy,    A.D. 
holding  on  to  the  king's  person,  intrenched  himself  in  the   141° 
city.     Civil  war  in  its  deadliest  form  ensued,  and  both 
factions  called  on  England  for  aid. 

Burgundy's  mob  raged  in  Paris,  pillaging,  burning,  and 
butchering  ;  Armagnac's  mob  raged  outside  Paris,  pillag- 
ing, burning,  and  butchering.  Poor  France  ! 

At  last  the  better  class  of  the  citizens  of  Paris  could   A-D- 
stand  it  no  longer,  and  they  rose  up  and  put  down  the 
mob. 

Burgundy  withdrew.     Armagnac  entered,  accompanied    A.D. 
by  the  Orleans  princes,  and  the  king  passed  into  their   ] 
keeping.     The  Peace  of  Arras  put  an  end  to  the  civil   1414 
war,  but  not  to  the  disorders. 

England  was  once  again  under  the  rule  of  a  valiant 
king,  Henry  V.,  and  the  distracted  condition  of  France 
tempted  another  English  invasion  (1415). 

Landing  near  Harfleur,  Henry  V.  took  that  place,  after 
losing  15,000  men.  Too  weak  to  attempt  further  enter- 
prises, he  marched  across  the  country,  making  for  shelter 
in  Calais.  The  French  army  was  not  content  to  let  the 
English  get  away  without  further  punishment,  and  they 
hurried  forward  to  attack  them.  The  battle  of  Agincourt  A.D. 
was  the  result.  The  French  were  shamefully  defeated,  lost  1415 
10,000  men,  and  the  English  1600.  Among  the  prisoners 
were  the  constable,  seven  princes,  and  120  lords.  After 
beating  the  French  in  this  signal  manner,  Henry  re- 
sumed his  retreat,  marched  to  Calais,  and  returned  to 
London. 


230  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

A.D.        Civil  war  again  broke  out  in  Paris  (1418),  and   one 

-t   A  I  Q 

of  the  factions  massacred  the  other.  Eighteen  thousand 
anti-Burgundians  were  slaughtered  in  the  streets,  and 
the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  in  company  with  Queen  Isabella, 
reentered  the  city  in  triumph. 

The  royal  party,  led  by  the  dauphin,  the  king's  oldest 
son,  saw   the   necessity  of  coming  to   terms   with   Bur- 
gundy.     Reconciliation   was   proposed,    and   he   agreed. 
One  meeting  was  had  between   him  and   the   dauphin, 
and  all  passed  off  well.     Another  was  to  be  had  on  the 
bridge  of  Montereau.     Burgundy  went  to  it ;  a  dispute 
A.D.    between  him  and  the  dauphin  arose,  and  the  duke  was 
419   murdered  by  the  dauphin's  attendants. 

The  immediate  result  of  this  crime  was  to  throw  the 
Burgundians  into  the  arms  of  the  English.  Queen  Isa- 
bella and  the  partisans  of  the  murdered  duke  immediately 
turned  to  Henry  V.,  and  that  cold,  calculating  conqueror 
put  his  sickle  into  the  harvest,  and  reaped  all  the  fruits 
of  the  assassination. 

A.D.        In   May,  1420,  the  Treaty  of  Troyes  was  signed,  and 
1420   Henry  V.   of  England  became  the  keeper  of  the  royal 
lunatic,  Charles  VI.,  and  virtual  ruler  of  France. 

Let  us  take  a  parting  look,  full  of  sympathy  and  com- 
passion, upon  this  wretchedest  of  kings,  Charles  VI. 

For  twenty-six  years  the  curse  of  madness  has  been 
upon  him,  the  cloud  lifting  now  and  then,  only  to  close 
down  more  hopelessly  in  the  end.  For  twenty-six  years 
he  has  been  tossed  back  and  forth  among  the  keepers, 
who  fought  among  themselves  for  the  privilege  of  holding 
the  king,  and  plundering  the  kingdom.  Burgundy  is 
keeper  for  a  time,  then  Orleans,  then  Isabella,  then  the 
dauphin,  then  the  king  of  England.  Each  by  turns  takes 


xiv       CHARLES  THE  FIFTH  AND  CHARLES  THE  SIXTH       231 

possession  of  the  madman,  uses  him,  neglects  him,  de- 
spoils him,  and  pillages  France  in  his  royal  name. 

In  his  lucid  moments  he  sees  just  enough  of  the  state 
of  the  country  to  feel  the  chill  of  its  horrors.  He  realizes 
the  suffering,  but  cannot  relieve  it.  He  hears  the  call  of 
distress,  but  is  powerless  to  move.  He  looks,  sympathizes, 
grieves,  desponds  —  and  is  mad  again. 

There  is  something  terrible  and  most  pathetic  in  this 
picture.  The  figure  of  the  king  —  old  before  his  time, 
worn  out  by  sensual  indulgence,  shrouded  by  madness, 
and  thus  flung  from  brightest  sunshine  into  uttermost 
darkness  —  is  appalling.  He  reigns,  and  yet  does  not 
reign.  He  is  theoretically  king,  and  yet  he  is  a  ragged, 
filthy,  vermin-eaten  lunatic,  upon  whom  the  keepers 
spring  at  intervals,  in  order  that  they  may  wash  him 
clean,  and  put  on  a  change  of  clothes.  Food  is  thrown 
to  him  as  to  a  wild  beast.  He  is  foul  to  eye  and  ear  and 
nose.  Yet  he  is  king,  and  is  the  centre  of  all  intrigue. 
The  blackest  passions  rage  around  him  ;  the  barriers  of 
morality  are  down  ;  a  mad  whirl  of  jealous  and  greedy 
rivalry  beats  around  the  throne. 

During  all  these  sad  years,  famine  and  pestilence,  war 
and  rapine,  have  wasted  the  kingdom.  Noble  takes  arms 
against  noble,  peasant  against  lord,  middle  class  against 
upper,  and  English  against  all.  The  Oriflamine  is  beaten 
down  in  shameful  defeat.  Foreign  invaders  wreak  their 
pleasure  upon  undefended  France.  The  smoke  of  burning 
towns,  which  heralds  the  advance  of  the  English,  may  be 
seen  from  the  walls  ;  yet  the  streets  run  red  with  the 
blood  of  Frenchmen,  shed  by  Frenchmen.  So  many  dead 
men  lie  along  the  streets  that  even  the  children  grow 
familiar  with  the  sight,  and  drag  the  corpses  about  in 


232  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CIIAP. 

play.  To  add  to  the  gloom,  the  horrors  of  the  time,  an 
epidemic  breaks  out,  and  carries  off  50,000  victims. 

Towering  above  the  abject  form  of  the  mad  king, 
Charles  VI.,  we  see  that  of  his  guardian  and  keeper, 
Henry  V. 

What  reader  of  English  has  not  heard  of  the  Prince 
Hal  of  Shakespeare,  boon  companion  of  Falstaff,  guest  of 
Dame  Quickly,  hero  of  scrapes  about  town  and  mock 
robberies  on  the  highway, — the  Henry  of  Monmouth 
"  whose  swift  wrath  beat  down  the  never-daunted 
Percy"? 

By  what  enormous  labour  has  this  Harry  of  Monmouth 
become  the  "  hero  king,"  the  conqueror  of  a  great  realm 
beyond  seas;  by  what  drudgery  and  toil  has  he  reared 
the  fabric  of  military  greatness  ;  by  what  hardness  of 
heart  and  cunning  of  mind  has  he  knit  together  his 
vast  webs  of  intrigue,  keeping  Frenchmen  divided,  and 
Englishmen  united ! 

At  last  success  crowns  it  all :  he  is,  so  far  as  eye  can 
see,  completely  victorious.  His  word,  curt  and  harsh, 
is  law.  His  look,  high  and  stern,  compels  obedience. 
His  hand,  quick  and  strong,  strikes  down  all  resistance. 

He  gathers  into  that  iron  clutch  all  the  strands  of 
power  :  Burgundy  is  his  ally,  Isabella  his  pensioner,  the 
mad  king  his  ward,  and  the  mad  king's  daughter  his  wife. 

What  mortal  ever  mounted  more  rapidly  the  pinnacle 
of  greatness?  No  wonder  his  head  is  turned,  and  he 
dreams  dreams.  He  is  to  conquer  in  Germany,  also,  and 
perhaps  in  Spain  :  certainly  in  the  East,  —  the  dim,  distant, 
opulent  East,  —  whose  vague  grandeurs  and  limitless  possi- 
bilities have  turned  so  many  heads,  from  Alexander  to 
Napoleon. 


xiv       CHARLES  THE  FIFTH  AND  CHARLES  THE  SIXTH       233 

The  hero  king  sees  a  guarantee  of  the  permanence  of 
his  conquest  when  his  French  wife  bears  him  a  son. 
Only  one  life,  that  of  the  mad  king,  stands  between 
him  and  the  crown.  Henry  is  regent,  actual  king ;  but 
Charles  is  yet  alive  and,  nominally,  the  monarch.  But 
surely  he  cannot  last  much  longer ;  he  will  die  soon,  and 
the  hero  king,  Henry,  waits  indulgently  for  the  poor  old 
lunatic  to  shuffle  out  of  his  way. 

But  alas,  a  sudden  cloud  dims  this  sunny  landscape,  A.D. 
and  the  hero  king  must  bend  his  crested  head.  Death  1422 
calls ;  —  for  the  lunatic  ?  No  ;  for  the  hero  king. 

And  he  must  go,  suddenly  summoned  as  one  bidden 
from  a  banquet  of  the  gods,  to  be  cast,  naked  and  alone, 
into  the  freezing  night  of  death  and  the  grave. 

Henry  V.  died  August  31,  1422,  and  Charles  VI.  soon 
followed.  He  had  occupied  the  throne  forty-two  years. 

It  is  said  that  playing-cards  were  first  invented  in  this 
reign  to  amuse  the  king  in  his  hours  of  gloom. 

One  of  the  important  events  of  this  reign  was  the 
Council  of  Constance,  called  together  by  the  Church  to 
settle  the  disputes  between  the  three  popes,  and  to  heal 
the  great  schism  in  the  Church. 

It  sat  four  years  ;  selected  Martin  V.  as  the  true  Pope  ;    A.D. 
decided  that  the  decree  of  the  general  council  should  be    ] 
of  superior  authority  to  the  Pope,  and  condemned  John 
Huss  and   Jerome  of   Prague,  the  great   forerunners   of 
Martin  Luther,  to  be  burned  at  the  stake. 


CHAPTER   XV 

JOAN   OF   ARC   AND   CHARLES   THE   SEVENTH 

YI7E  are  now  familiar  with  the  history  of  this  hundred 
years'  war  between  France  and  England.  We  have 
seen  Edward  III.  beat  down  the  French,  sack  their  cities, 
and  ravage  their  fields.  We  have  seen  the  slaughter  of 
French  knights  at  Cressy  and  Poitiers  and  Agincourt. 
We  have  seen  the  terror  of  the  English  name  grow  upon 
the  French  to  such  an  extent  that  one  Englishman  can 
overcome  five  Frenchmen  in  the  open  field. 

We  have  seen  Henry  V.  receive  at  the  hands  of  the 
French  king,  queen,  and  nobles  the  succession  to  the 
throne  of  France. 

We  have  seen  demoralization,  utter  and  ruinous,  take 
possession  of  the  wretched  land. 

We  can  see  the  people  weeping  at  the  death  of  the  in- 
sane king,  because  he  was  not  so  destructive  as  the  sane 
ones  had  been. 

We  can  see  bands  of  pillagers  going  from  town  to  town, 
plundering  and  destroying. 

In  the  dreadful  orgy  of  lust  and  crime  we  can  hear  the 
stout  chieftain,  La  Hire,  affirm  that  "if  God  himself  were 
a  soldier,  he  would  turn  robber." 

And  in  remembrance  of  this  chaotic  period  we  can  hear 
the  prayer  of  this  same  La  Hire,  as  he  girds  on  his  armour 
for  a  pillaging  expedition  :  — 

234 


CHAP,  xv    JOAN  OF  ARC  AND  CHARLES  THE  SEVENTH         235 

"  O  God,  do  unto  La  Hire  this  day,  what  thou  would'st 
have  La  Hire  do  unto  thee,  wert  thou  La  Hire  and  he 
God/' 

A  country  boy  saved  Israel ;  and  a  country  girl  was  to 
save  France. 

Joan  of  Arc  was  born  January  6,  1412,  in  the  little 
hamlet  of  Domremy,  on  the  Meuse,  in  Lorraine.  Her 
parents  were  simple,  respectable  people,  owning  some 
land.  They  were  devout  members  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  and  devout  believers  in  the  divine  right  of 
kings. 

Joan  was  brought  up  in  the  same  faith.  Her  childhood 
was  that  of  an  ordinary  French  country  girl  of  the  time. 
She  minded  the  sheep,  or  the  spinning-wheel,  or  the  pot, 
just  as  other  girls  did.  She  played,  she  danced,  she 
decked  the  churches  with  flowers,  just  as  the  other  chil- 
dren did. 

She  was  not  taught  to  write,  nor  to  read ;  but  she  was 
taught  to  repeat  the  Catholic  creed,  the  Hail  Mary,  and 
the  legends  of  the  saints. 

As  she  grew  older  her  fondness  for  the  Church  became 
noticeable.  She  would  steal  away  from  her  playmates 
and  carry  wild  flowers  to  deck  the  chapel.  She  became 
more  pensive,  more  thoughtful,  strangely  stirred  and 
pleased  by  the  sound  of  the  mellow  church  bells. 

Wars  and  rumours  of  wars  were  all  about  her.  The 
air  was  full  of  the  clash  of  arms.  The  wounded  soldier 
often  stopped  in  for  a  night's  shelter,  for  nourishment, 
and  for  nursing. 

Once  the  alarm  came  that  Domremy  was  to  be  pillaged, 
and  the  villagers  had  to  flee  for  shelter. 

Thus   round   the   fireside  at   her  father's  house,  Joan 


236  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

was  in  full  contact  with  the  troubled  times.  She  heard 
all  the  strange  stories  which  were  afloat,  and  the  miseries 
of  her  country  spoke  to  her  every  day. 

She  heard  how  a  strange  man  had  suddenly  sprung  out 
of  the  woods,  caught  the  king's  bridle,  and  cried,  "O 
king !  go  no  further ;  thou  art  betrayed,"  and  had  been 
beaten  off  by  the  attendants,  and  had  still  followed  at  a 
distance,  crying,  with  a  loud  voice,  "  Thou  art  betrayed  !  " 

They  told  her  how  the  king  had  thereupon  fallen  into 
deep  gloom  as  he  rode  on  ;  and  had  then,  at  the  acciden- 
tal clash  of  a  lance  upon  a  helmet  behind  him,  furiously 
drawn  his  sword  and  had  cut  and  slashed  and  fought  his 
friends  until  he  had  fallen  exhausted  —  and  then  had  gone 
mad,  and  was  even  now  mad  —  he,  the  poor,  insane  king, 
whose  wife  was  making  war  upon  his  son,  ruining  the 
land  and  delivering  it  over  to  its  foes. 

She  heard  them  speak  in  the  low  tones  of  deep  hatred 
against  this  false  Queen  Isabella,  this  shameful  wife,  this 
unnatural  mother. 

She  heard  them  talk  in  awe  and  vague  hope  of  the  old 
prophecy  of  Merlin,  that  "  France,  lost  by  a  woman,  shall 
be  saved  by  a  woman." 

Her  wonder  grew  as  she  heard  them  tell  that  the 
woman  who  was  to  deliver  France  was  to  be  a  virgin 
and  was  to  come  from  the  marshes  of  Lorraine  —  her  own 
country. 

The  heroines  of  the  Bible  aroused  her  imagination  ;  the 
needs  of  her  prostrate  and  bleeding  country  wrung  her 
heart ;  the  intense  religious  zeal  within  her  turned  her 
thoughts  to  God ;  and  the  unutterable  yearning  of  all 
the  people  round  her  for  Divine  help,  for  Divine  deliver- 
ance, fed  the  wishes,  the  hopes,  the  aspirations  of  this 


xv  JOAN  OF  ARC   AND   CHARLES  THE   SEVENTH         237 

pious,  superstitious,  imaginative  girl  until  they  burst 
into  the  holy  flame  of  faith. 

She  believed  that  Merlin's  prophecy  applied  to  her. 
She  believed  that  the  heroines  of  the  Bible  were  to  live 
again  in  her.  She  believed  that  Voices,  voices  from  on 
high,  called  on  her  to  go  forth  and  deliver  France. 

Alas  !  And  the  fate  of  the  martyrs  taught  her  their 
sad  lesson,  too.  She  felt  that  she  should  lose  her  own  life 
in  saving  France. 

Joan  was  sixteen  years  old  when  she  confided  her  plans 
to  her  uncle  and  begged  his  help. 

She  wanted  to  be  carried  before  the  governor  of 
a  neighbouring  town,  Vaucouleurs,  in  order  that  he 
should  provide  her  with  means  to  go  and  see  the  king. 

After  much  persuasion,  the  uncle  consented. 

He  went  with  her  to  the  governor. 

"Send  and  tell  the  dauphin  that  the  Lord  will  give 
him  help  before  mid-Lent.  In  spite  of  his  enemies  he 
shall  be  king,  and  I  myself  shall  lead  him  to  be 
crowned." 

Thus  spoke  Joan  to  the  governor. 

"  Carry  that  girl  home  to  her  father  and  whip  her  well." 

Thus  spoke  the  governor  to  Joan,  laughing. 

She  returned  to  Domremy,  neither  discouraged  nor 
shaken  in  faith. 

Her  father  dreamed  that  she  had  gone  away  to  the 
wars  with  the  soldiers.  He  was  much  disturbed  and  said 
to  her  brothers,  "  If  I  thought  such  a  thing  could  happen, 
I  would  bid  you  drown  her  ;  and  if  you  refused,  I  would 
drown  her  myself." 

The  father  wished  her  to  marry.  A  suitable  match 
was  offered  her,  and  the  lover  was  so  eager  that  he  even 


238  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

sought  the  aid  of  the  courts  to  force  her  consent ;  but 
without  success. 

She  vowed  to  remain  a  virgin,  and  she  was  constant  in 
her  belief  that  heavenly  Voices  called  her  to  the  great 
work  of  saving  France. 

Again  she  went  to  her  uncle,  and  again  she  gained 
through  him  access  to  the  governor  of  Vaucouleurs. 

He  answered  her  as  before,  scoffingly. 

"  I  must  go  to  the  dauphin,"  said  Joan,  "  though  I 
should  journey  on  my  knees." 

Such  strange  talk  as  this  got  noised  abroad,  and  many 
people  came  to  see  the  girl,  out  of  curiosity. 

Among  them  was  a  knight,  called  John  of  Metz.  So 
impressed  was  he  by  her  intense  earnestness,  her  evident 
purity  and  confidence,  that  he  laid  his  hands  within  hers, 
in  the  old  chivalrous  fashion,  and  vowed  that  by  God's 
help  he  would  take  her  to  the  king. 

Another  knight,  Bertrand  de  Poulengy,  gave  a  like 
promise. 

And  now  the  wind  begins  to  set  in  Joan's  favour.  Faith 
begets  faith.  The  scoffing  governor  suddenly  grows 
attentive  and  respectful.  He  brought  a  priest  to  see 
her  with  a  view  of  learning  whether  the  spirit  that  pos- 
sessed her  was  good  or  evil.  She  received  the  holy  man 
upon  her  bended  knees,  made  a  good  impression  upon  him, 
and  he  reported  favourably  to  the  hesitating  governor. 

Still  he  doubted,  and  still  he  delayed. 

For  three  weeks  the  poor  girl  was  kept  waiting,  and 
during  this  weary  interval,  she  lived  with  Catherine  de 
Royer,  helping  her  in  household  work,  and  spending 
much  time  at  prayer  in  the  chapel. 

The  people  of  Vaucouleurs  now  came  forward  as  her 


xv  JOAN  OF  ARC  AND  CHARLES  THE  SEVENTH          239 

friends.     They  gave  her  a  horse,  and  the  equipments  of 
a  soldier. 

Then  came  news  of  a  battle  in  which  the  French  had, 
as  usual,  been  beaten. 

"  In  God's  name  let  me  go,"  says  Joan  ;  and  at  last 
the  governor  consented. 

He  gave  her  a  sword  and  a  letter  to  the  king. 

With  her  two  pledged  knights  and  four  armed  men  A.D. 
of  lesser  rank,  she  set  out  on  February  23,  1429,  to  go  to  1429 
the  king. 

She  did  not  see  her  parents  to  bid  them  farewell,  but 
she  sent  them  a  letter  entreating  their  forgiveness. 
##*###*## 

We  have  already  seen  that,  after  the  Treaty  of  Troyes, 
Henry  V.  of  England  was  in  fact  master  of  the  French 
kingdom.  Excepting  three  or  four  provinces  which 
remained  faithful  to  the  dauphin,  the  son  of  the  mad 
king,  the  English  conqueror  ruled  all  the  land. 

Both  Henry  V.  and  Charles  VI.  having  died  in  1422, 
the  Treaty  of  Troyes  was  now  to  be  put  to  the  final  test. 

The  infant  son  of  the  English  king  was  proclaimed 
king  of  France,  at  Paris,  and  was  recognized  as  such  by 
the  French  Parliament,  the  University  of  Paris,  Queen 
Isabella,  the  first  prince  of  the  blood,  Philip  of  Burgundy, 
and  by  nearly  all  the  provinces  of  the  kingdom. 

A  few  French  knights  in  the  south  proclaimed  the 
son  of  the  French  king,  and  the  southern  provinces  recog- 
nized him  as  Charles  VII. 

Almost  immediately  he  suffered  two  defeats  in  battle, 
and  his  cause  was  at  such  a  low  ebb  that  he  wandered 
about  from  castle  to  castle,  and  was  derisively  called 
the  king  of  Bourges. 


240  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

He  had  not  yet  been  crowned.  His  legitimacy  was  ques- 
tioned. His  finances  were  so  low  that  the  very  scullions 
in  his  kitchen  clamoured  angrily  for  their  unpaid  wages. 

Such  was  his  distress  that  he  had  sold  his  jewellery  and 
precious  trinkets.  Even  his  clothes  showed  poverty,  and 
his  bootmaker,  not  being  paid  the  cash,  refused  to  credit 
Charles  for  a  new  pair  of  boots. 

His  armies  had  been  driven  in  everywhere,  and  now  the 
English  had  laid  siege  to  Orleans,  "  the  key  to  the  south." 
If  Orleans  fell,  all  was  lost. 

The  English  had  taken  the  towns  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Orleans,  had  driven  in  the  outposts  of  the  defenders, 
and  had  erected  forts  and  bastions  so  as  to  surround  the 
city  and  storm  it  into  surrender. 

Early  in  February,  1429,  the  besieged  learned  that  a 
large  supply  of  provisions  was  coming  from  Paris  to  the 
English.  The  knights  of  Orleans  resolved  to  capture  it. 
Accordingly,  they  made  the  attempt  —  sallied  out  of 
town,  attacked  the  English,  got  handsomely  whipped, 
and  went  in  again. 

France  almost  despaired  of  herself.  The  fall  of  Or- 
leans seemed  certain.  The  bishops  fled,  and  thus  the 
Church  seemed  to  abandon  the  city  to  its  doom.  The 
Count  of  Clermont,  one  of  its  chief  defenders,  went  away 
also,  carrying  his  soldiers  with  him. 

The  frantic  citizens  sent  to  Charles  for  aid,  but  he 
could  do  nothing  for  them. 

They  had  appealed  to  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  but  his 
only  response  was  to  become  neutral. 

Surrounded  by  the  English,  all  supplies  cut  off,  aban- 
doned by  the  Church,  forsaken  by  some  of  their  allies, 
what  hope  was  there  for  Orleans  and  France? 


xv  JOAN   OF   ARC   AND   CHARLES   THE    SEVENTH          241 

Borne  by  the  swift  feet  of  rumour  came  wonderful  ti- 
dings to  the  stricken  city.  A  virgin  had  arisen  out  of 
Lorraine,  as  was  foretold  by  the  ancient  prophecies,  and 
was  even  now  on  her  way  to  see  the  king,  and  to  under- 
take the  deliverance  of  Orleans. 

"The  king  and  the  Church  have  failed  us,  but  God 
has  heard  our  supplications  !  " 

So  heated  had  become  the  atmosphere  because  of 
constant  strife,  so  excited  the  imaginations  of  men,  so 
eager  were  the  distressed  people  to  catch  at  comfort,  that 
the  strong  wine  of  confidence  was  doing  its  work  in  Or- 
leans, even  before  Joan  reached  the  king.  We  easily 
believe  what  we  wish  to  believe. 

Perilous  was  Joan's  journey  to  Chinon,  where  Charles 
was  holding  his  shabby  little  court,  wearing  his  old  shoes 
—  the  distrustful  bootmaker  having  carried  away  the  new 
ones. 

Yet  so  hedged  about  is  royalty  with  forms  and  cere- 
monies, that  it  was  several  days  before  Joan  could  gain 
admittance  to  this  king,  whose  kingdom  was  slipping 
from  under  his  shabbily  shod  feet. 

Finally  Joan  is  received. 

In  plain,  earnest  terms  she  states  her  mission. 

"I  am  Joan  the  Virgin,  sent  by  God  to  save  France." 
She  asked  for  troops  that  she  might  go  and  save  Orleans. 

Charles  was  much  disposed  to  treat  her  as  a  visionary, 
but  seeing  the  impression  she  had  created,  he  hesitated. 
She  was  lodged  with  the  king's  lieutenant  and  treated 
well.  Day  after  day  she  renewed  her  request  for 
troops. 

Finally  it  was  decided  to  leave  the  question  to  the 
decision  of  Parliament  at  Poitiers.  The  archbishop  of 


242  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Rheims  summoned  learned  churchmen,  doctors,  and  bish- 
ops, to  deliberate  upon  Joan's  proposed  mission. 

After  full  inquiry  into  her  life  and  character,  after 
hearing  what  she  had  to  say,  after  viewing  her  clad  as  a 
male  soldier,  which  was  afterwards  charged  against  her 
by  the  Church  as  a  crime,  the  examiners  sanctioned 
her  mission,  and  urged  Charles  in  strong  terms  to  equip 
her  for  the  work. 

A  suit  of  beautiful  armour  is  made  for  her ;  a  white 
banner,  embroidered  with  lilies,  is  given  her;  a  rusty 
sword  is  found  in  a  church  and  scoured  into  creditable 
appearance  ;  a  military  staff  is  appointed  her  ;  her  broth- 
ers, Peter  and  John,  who  followed  her  to  Chinon,  are 
placed  in  her  retinue ;  two  pages  are  appointed  for  her 
service ;  her  two  faithful  knights  are  placed  in  her  troop ; 
the  archbishop  of  Rheims  accompanies  her ;  soldiers  are 
enlisted,  and  all  is  ready. 

"  Unfurl  the  white  banner  ;  and  forward,  march  !  " 

One  can  hear  the  silvery  tones  of  her  thrilling  voice 
come  breaking  through  the  mists  of  time. 

All  things  are  ready,  the  standard  is  given  to  the  glad 
eyes  of  reawakened  France,  and  Joan  marches  to  deliver 
Orleans. 

The  Virgin  leads  the  army. 

She  is  clad  in  a  full  suit  of  white  armour.  She  is 
mounted  upon  a  beautiful  black  horse.  Her  white  ban- 
ner waves  above  her,  and  round  her  are  a  brilliant  train 
of  knights  and  cavaliers. 

Night  and  morning,  as  that  army  marches,  there  is  a 
ceremony  Joan  will  not  omit. 

An  altar  must  be  raised,  and  the  consecrated  standard 
placed  beside  it ;  the  soldiers  kneel,  the  priests  do  their 


xv  JOAN   OF   ARC   AND   CHARLES   THE   SEVENTH          243 

holy  office,  sacred  songs  are  sung,  and  the  Virgin  takes 
the  Sacrament  —  her  troops  taking  it  with  her. 

Woe  unto  the  enemy  which  such  an  army,  led  in  such 
a  spirit,  shall  meet  in  battle  ! 

What  need  is  there  to  tell  the  dreary  detail  of 
war? 

Already  the  English  were  half  whipped.  The  French 
had  been  aroused  to  confidence.  They  saw  the  hand  of 
God  in  it.  How  could  they  fail  ? 

It  was  an  age  when  sorcery  and  witchcraft  were  be- 
lieved in.  The  English  were  superstitious,  and  they 
believed  that  Joan  was  sent  by  the  Devil. 

Hence  both  armies  fell  into  the  same  faith,  so  far  as 
the  supernatural  character  of  the  Virgin's  mission  was 
concerned,  —  the  ground  for  dispute  was,  who  sent  her, 
God  or  the  Devil  ? 

When  Joan  entered  Orleans  the  siege  had  already  lasted 
since  October.  It  was  now  May.  The  English  had  been 
steadily  gaining  ground  all  the  while  ;  and  at  no  time 
had  the  French  prospects  been  so  gloomy  as  they  were 
when  she  arrived. 

But  in  ten  days  after  her  magic  touch  was  laid  to  the 
work,  the  English  had  been  utterly  vanquished  and 
driven  away  ! 

The  fearless  and  tireless  girl  was  in  the  thick  of  the 
fight  all  the  time,  was  ever  the  first  to  advance,  and  the 
last  to  retire. 

Her  lips,  ever  uttering  words  of  pity  for  the  wounded, 
ever  breathing  prayers,  ever  chiding  profanity  and  levity, 
were  also  ready  and  constant  with  the  battle-cry  of 
"  Onward  !  " 

Struck  down  with  a  severe  wound,  she  herself  drew  the 


244  THE    STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

iron  from  it,  and  was  up  and  fighting  again,  in  time  to 
save  the  day. 

Never  was  she  petulant  and  harsh,  save  when  the  chief- 
tains foiled  her  plans  for  advancing. 

Rude,  unutterably  rude,  were  some  of  the  insults  cast 
in  her  teeth  by  the  English. 

Tears  would  dim  the  glorious  eyes  at  such  times,  but 
she  fought  on  —  never  resting,  never  doubting.  She  her- 
self would  catch  up  the  scaling  ladders  and  place  them 
against  the  walls  when  no  other  dared  do  it,  heedless  of 
cannon-shot  and  flying  arrows. 

She  herself  would  carry  her  banner  to  the  very  forefront 
of  the  struggle. 

"  Watch  my  standard  ;  when  it  touches  the  walls,  the 
place  will  be  ours  !  " 

And  the  heroic  girl  would  press  it  forward,  ever 
forward,  until  the  silken  folds  of  white  and  gold 
touched  the  walls,  and  her  glad  cry  rang  out,  "  The 
victory  is  ours  !  " 

Time  and  again  she  rallied  the  broken  ranks.  Time 
and  again  she  compelled  triumph  by  refusing  to  fall  back 
when  the  men  said  retreat. 

And  the  final  overthrow  of  the  English  and  the  break- 
ing up  of  the  siege  of  Orleans  were  due  to  her  indomi- 
table pluck  in  continuing  to  fight  when  the  chieftains  had 
ordered  a  retreat. 

A.D.        But  at  last  Orleans  is  saved  ;  the  English  withdraw 
1429   sullenly.     Back  into  the  redeemed  city  comes  the  glorious 
country  girl,  while  every  bell  peals  forth   notes  of  joy, 
and  every  voice  is  sweet  with  its  "  God  bless  you  !  " 

Let  us  believe  that  the  heroine  enjoys  her  triumph. 

Let  us  hope  that  she  is  happy. 


xv  JOAN  OF  ARC  AND  CHARLES  THE   SEVENTH          245 

The  bitter  days  are  coming  swiftly  enough,  when  all 
will  be  dark ;  let  us  trust  that  she  drinks  in  all  the 
sunshine  now. 

The  common  people  crowd  about  her  as  she  journeys 
from  Orleans  to  Tours.  They  hail  her  with  tears  of 
joy  ;  they  reverently  touch  her  hands,  her  dress  ;  even 
stoop  down  and  kiss  the  footprints  of  her  horse  ! 

The  king  comes  to  meet  her.  He  offers  to  confer 
nobility  on  her  —  as  if  God  had  left  that  to  him  ! 

At  the  head  of  the  victorious  French,  Joan  followed 
the  retreating  English.  She  met  them  in  fair  fight  in 
the  open  field  and  beat  them  —  the  first  time  such  a 
thing  had  befallen  the  English  at  the  hands  of  the 
French  in  scores  of  years.  She  took  from  them  city 
after  city,  until  the  way  was  clear  for  Charles  to  go  to 
Rheims  and  be  crowned  king  of  France. 

That  is  a  grand  spectacle  which  so  many  thousands 
witness  in  the  great  cathedral  of  Rheims  on  July  17, 
1429. 

There  are  dignitaries  of  the  Church  in  full  canonicals  ; 
there  are  the  princes  of  the  state  in  all  the  splendour  of 
velvet  and  gold.  There  is  Charles,  standing  below  the 
altar,  waiting  to  be  crowned.  There  is  Joan  by  his  side, 
sacred  banner  in  hand.  The  archbishop  pours  consecrated 
oil  upon  Charles'  head,  and  as  the  crown  is  placed,  a  peal 
of  trumpets  rings  out  clear  and  strong. 

Then,  as  the  multitude  is  shouting  itself  hoarse,  Joan 
kneels  at  the  feet  of  the  king  and  says  :  — 

"Now  is  fulfilled  the  pleasure  of  God." 

And  as  she  spoke,  she  wept,  and  all  those  who  were  in 
the  church  wept  with  her. 

Her  father  was  present,  an  honoured  guest  of  the  city. 


246  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

Riding  through  the  streets  after  the  coronation,  side 
by  side  with  the  king,  cheered  joyously  upon  all  sides, 
she  was  noticed  to  be  sad. 

"  I  would  that  God  would  allow  me  to  return  to  my 
home,  to  my  sister  and  my  brothers,  to  my  father  and  my 
mother." 

This  ended  her  mission.  She  said  that  her  Voices  had 
not  charged  her  with  any  work  further  than  she  had 
already  done. 

But  the  king  would  not  have  it  so.  Many  cities  and 
towns  yet  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  English.  He 
knew  the  soldiers  and  the  people  had  faith  in  Joan,  and 
he  wished  to  profit  by  her  further  service. 
A.D.  The  poor  girl  yielded,  though  under  protest.  She  had 
1430  enemies  near  the  king  who  hated  her  for  her  glory  and 
for  her  influence.  They  now  took  every  means  to  dis- 
credit her.  Plans  which  she  proposed  were  rejected. 
Plans  which  she  disapproved  were  accepted.  She  was 
made  to  attempt  military  movements  which  she  did  not 
sanction,  and  she  was  not  supported  in  those  which  she 
attempted. 

Greatly  did  she  suffer,  and  keenly  feel  the  ingratitude 
of  him  she  had  made  king. 

The  danger  from  the  English  having  passed,  the  male 
commanders  grew  restive  under  Joan's  leadership.  These 
wretched  curs  whom  she  had  inspired  to  bravery  and  suc- 
cess accused  her  of  being  dictatorial. 

It  is  the  old  sad  story. 

One  day  Joan  sallied  out  of  the  city  of  Cpmpiegne,  at 
the  head  of  a  small  band  of  troops,  to  attack  the  English. 

The  governor  of  the  town  stayed  inside,  like  a  thrifty 
man  intent  on  saving  his  skin. 


xv  JOAN   OF   ARC   AND   CHARLES   THE   SEVENTH  247 

Joan's  small  force  did  brilliant  work,  but  as  reenforce- 
ments  came  up  for  the  English,  her  troops  retreated,  she 
doing  her  best  to  make  them  stand  and  fight.  The 
enemy  pushed  on  after  the  fleeing  French,  the  gates  of  A-D- 
the  town  were  open  —  in  rush  the  fugitives,  on  come 
the  pursuers,  and  bang  go  the  gates  ! 

Joan  was  outside. 

A  faithful  few  died  around  her,  but  she  was  captured 
and  led  away. 

Not  one  attempt  did  the  brave  governor  make  to  save 
the  grandest  heroine  that  ever  breathed. 

The  town  was  full  of  French  soldiers,  there  was  abso- 
lutely no  danger  that  the  small  squad  chasing  Joan  could 
capture  it.  Had  they  come  in  at  the  open  gate,  along 
with  Joan,  they  would  have  been  powerless  in  the  midst 
of  enemies,  shut  off  from  the  succour  of  friends. 

The  poor  child  was  led  away  to  captivity  and  chains. 

For  more  than  a  year  she  lived,  suffering  every  day. 

Brave  ?  Ah,  greatly  and  divinely  brave,  because  it  was 
never  possible  to  wring  from  her  lips  one  word  of  com- 
plaint against  the  graceless  wretch  she  had  enthroned, 
and  who  now  dallied  with  lewd  women,  idling  away  the 
time  in  the  luxuries  of  the  wealth  which  she  had  brought 
him,  and  who  yet  never  by  word  or  letter  or  act  tried  to 
save  her  ! 

Dead  these  five  centuries  are  those  two,  the  maid  and 
the  king  ;  but  even  now  one  shudders  to  think  that  the 
same  God  made  them  both. 

The  immediate  captors  of  Joan  were  Burgundians,  allies 
of  the  English. 

The  man  who  took  her  carried  her  to  his  master,  a  noble 
called  the  Bastard  of  Vendome. 


248  THE   STOKY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

This  noble  sold  her  to  his  master,  another  noble  named 
John  of  Luxemburg. 

This  noble  sold  her  to  the  English  for  two  thousand 
dollars. 

Great  was  the  joy  of  the  English.  Bells  were  rung  in 
all  the  churches,  songs  of  thanksgiving  were  sung,  and 
the  English  and  Burgundian  chiefs  all  flocked  to  see  her, 
"  more  joyful  than  if  they  had  taken  five  hundred  fighting 

men." 

********* 

Where  were  her  friends  ?  Was  there  no  brave  knight 
in  all  France  to  couch  lance,  uplift  banner,  and  cry  "  To 
the  rescue  !  " 

Where  was  the  king?  Sipping  wine  amid  painted 
women. 

Where  were  the  people  —  the  people  whom  she  had 
loved  and  had  delivered? 

Alas  !  The  people  abused  the  nobles  for  betraying  her ; 
put  the  signs  of  public  mourning  up  in  the  streets,  and 
prayed  laboriously  for  her  in  the  churches.  There  was 
even  a  procession  of  barefooted  priests  at  Tours,  which 
went  through  the  city  imploring  heaven  for  her  deliv- 
erance. 

These  extraordinary  methods  having  been  exhausted, 
the  people  rested  from  their  labours. 

The  heroine  of  France,  she  who  had  given  deliverance 
to  her  people  and  a  crown  to  her  king,  was  left  to  be 
bought  and  sold  like  base  merchandise,  was  left  to  be 
caged  and  chained  like  a  wild  beast,  while  there  was  in 
preparation  for  her  the  harshest  torture  and  the  crudest 
death  any  woman  ever  suffered. 

At  Rouen,  in  May,  1431,  Joan  was  tried  for  her  life. 


xv  JOAN  OF  ARC  AND   CHARLES  THE   SEVENTH          249 

The  bishop  of  Beauvais,  a  creature  in  pay  of  the  English,    A-D- 
claimed  jurisdiction  over  her  because  she  was  taken  in  his 
diocese.     He  charged  her  with  being  a  "  witch,  idolatress, 
and  heretic." 

The  University  of  Paris  urged  on  the  prosecution,  and 
six  of  its  doctors  acted  as  her  judges. 

Forty  judges  were  empanelled,  all  of  them  Frenchmen, 
except  three. 

One  of  these  judges,  Nicolas  de  Houppeville,  knowing 
what  the  trial  meant,  and  feeling  it  to  be  a  monstrous 
crime,  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  it. 

The  bishop  of  Beauvais  imprisoned  him,  and  threatened 
to  drown  him,  but  he  escaped  jail  and  fled. 

Others  besides  this  honest  priest  were  reluctant  to  pre- 
side at  the  trial,  but  threats  and  persuasions  silenced 
their  objections. 

So  the  court  is  organized,  and  the  trial  begins. 

On  one  side  is  the  power  of  the  Church,  and  the  power 
of  English  money  and  arms. 

On  the  other  is  a  helpless  country  girl,  nineteen  years 
old  —  moneyless,  friendless,  alone. 

What  other  issue  could  there  be  but  her  condemnation? 

How  could  she  help  it  when  they  prevented  her  appeal 
to  the  Pope,  or  to  the  higher  council  ? 

What  remedy  had  she  when  they  suppressed  all  proofs 
of  her  innocence,  and  strained  into  the  appearance  of  guilt 
her  every  word  and  deed  ? 

Week  after  week  dragged  itself  by  as  the  subtle  and 
cruel  judges,  who  had  denied  her  the  benefit  of  counsel, 
plied  her  with  questions  and  menaces  and  temptations. 

Failing  to  ensnare  her  into  confessions  or  self-crimina- 
tion by  these  methods,  they  threatened  her  with  torture 


260  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

—  that  horrible  process  with  which  the  authorities  of 
Church  and  State  were  used  to  tear  the  flesh,  crush  the 
bones,  or  rend  the  limbs  of  the  prisoner. 

Joan  is  carried  into  the  torture-chamber,  and  the  bishop 
of  Beauvais  shows  her  the  ghastly  instruments  with  which 
her  frail  body  is  to  be  mangled.  He  points  to  the  execu- 
tioners, standing  ready  to  seize  her  and  do  their  dreadful 
work. 

No  mother,  no  father,  no  kinsman,  no  friend,  stands 
beside  the  maiden  to  nerve  her  with  encouragement,  to 
say,  "  Take  courage  ;  be  brave  !  " 

No;  she  is  alone — utterly  alone  in  the  dark  of  the 
dungeon  —  in  the  hands  of  relentless  enemies  who  feast 
upon  her  woe  and  hunger  for  her  life. 

"  Confess,"  says  the  bishop,  "  or  you  shall  be  stripped, 
and  bound,  and  tortured  !  " 

"  Though  you  should  tear  me  limb  from  limb,  I  would 
tell  you  nothing  more  !  " 

Thus  spoke  Joan,  the  bravest  of  all  the  world's  brave  ! 

Her  very  courage  saved  her. 

Some  of  her  judges  persisted  that  she  ought  to  be 
tortured,  but  as  she  was  very  weak  and  might  die  under 
it,  and  as  they  had  already  decided  to  condemn  her,  the 
torture  was  deemed  unnecessary. 

She  was  condemned  to  death,  and  the  scaffold  was  built. 

But  the  English  were  not  satisfied. 

Joan's  death  would  be  considered  a  martyrdom,  unless 
they  could  procure  from  her  some  admission  which  would 
discredit  her  with  the  people. 

Hence  every  device  known  to  man  was  used  to  throw 
upon  this  lonely  prisoner  the  odium  of  her  own  death,  and 
to  make  her  execution  seem  a  necessity. 


xv  JOAN  OF  ARC  AND  CHARLES  THE   SEVENTH          251 

A  priest,  Loyseleur,  was  detailed  to  act  as  her  friend, 
to  condole  with  her,  win  her  confidence,  and  to  betray 
her. 

"If  you  do  what  I  tell  you,"  said  he,  "you  shall  be 
saved." 

Joan  was  carried  to  the  scaffold,  and  Evard,  the  priest, 
began  to  preach  the  death  sermon.  He  denounced  her  in 
the  bitterest  terms  as  a  witch,  a  heretic,  a  blasphemer. 

She  listened  without  reply  until  he  began  to  revile  the 
French  king.  Then  she  answered  warmly,  defending  the 
monarch  who  was  leaving  her  to  perish  without  effort  to 
save  her. 

She  was  offered  pardon  if  she  would  "revoke  those 
words  and  deeds  which  had  been  reproved." 

Again  she  repeated  her  appeal  to  the  Pope. 

"  He  is  too  far  off,"  said  Evard,  "  and  you  must  submit 
to  the  Church  as  here  represented." 

He  showed  her  a  form  of  recantation,  and  asked  her  to 
abjure. 

"  What  does  abjure  mean  ?  "  Joan  inquired. 

The  word  was  explained  to  her. 

"  I  appeal  to  the  Universal  Church  whether  I  ought  to 
abjure  or  not,"  cried  the  girl. 

"You  shall  abjure  instantly  or  be  burnt  this  very  day  !  " 
exclaimed  the  angry  Priest  Evard. 

Her  false  friend,  Loyseleur,  now  pleaded  with  her, 
"  Do  as  I  told  you ;  accept  a  woman's  dress." 

"  Do  as  he  advises,"  cried  all  those  around  her. 

"  Why  will  you  die  ?  "  they  asked. 

The  judges  pressed  her.  "  Joan,  we  pity  you  so  much. 
Take  back  what  you  have  said." 

Still  she  affirmed  that  she  had  done  no  wrong,  and  was 


252  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

not  guilty  ;  and  to  the  tumult  of  persuasive,  urgent  voices 
pressing  her  to  abjure,  she  piteously  said:  — 

"You  take  great  pains  to  seduce  me." 

Then  the  bishop  began  to  read  the  sentence  of  death. 

She  was  on  the  scaffold,  and  could  see  the  grim  execu- 
tioner waiting  to  do  his  office.  The  bishop  read,  the 
monks  pleaded  and  promised,  and  at  last  the  deserted  and 
ensnared  and  bewildered  girl  gave  way. 

"I  wiU  submit  to  the  Church." 

At  once  they  read  to  her  a  short  form  of  recantation, 
contained  in  six  or  eight  lines  of  writing,  and  asked  her  to 
sign  it. 

"  I  cannot  read  nor  write,"  she  said. 

The  secretary  of  the  English  king  took  her  hand, 
and  guided  it  to  write  her  name. 

It  was  a  base  trick.  What  she  signed  was  not  the 
simple  form  of  abjuration  as  read  to  her,  but  was  a 
confession  of  the  long  list  of  impossible  and  absurd 
charges  made  against  her  at  the  trial. 

She  was  ordered  back  to  prison. 

The  English  soldiers  were  enraged  at  her  apparent 
escape.  They  even  threw  stones  at  the  judges. 

The  English  Earl  of  Warwick  complained  of  the  turn 
things  had  taken. 

"  Do  not  fear,  my  lord,"  said  one  of  the  judges,  "  we 
shall  soon  have  her  again." 

The  judges  went  into  Joan's  cell,  compelled  her  to  take 
off  her  male  clothing,  and  to  put  on  woman's  clothing  in 
their  presence. 

She  spent  the  next  two  days  in  tears,  amid  the  in- 
sults of  her  jailers,  three  of  whom  stayed  in  her  room 
at  night. 


xv  JOAN  OF  ARC  AND  CHARLES  THE   SEVENTH          253 

Sunday  morning  she  begged  the  guards  to  unchain 
her  ankles,  that  she  might  rise  from  her  bed  and  dress. 

Undoing  the  chains,  they  took  away  her  woman's  dress, 
and  threw  her  the  man's  suit  she  formerly  wore. 

"  Sirs,  you  know  I  am  forbidden  to  wear  that,"  pleaded 
Joan. 

Until  noon  she  lay  undressed,  begging  for  the  clothes 
they  had  taken  from  her.  But  in  vain. 

Then  nature's  necessity  compelled  the  miserable  child 
to  rise  and  to  put  on  the  dress  which  she  knew  would  be 
taken  as  a  proof  that  she  had  relapsed  into  heresy  and 
guilt. 

A  trap  —  an  infinitely  infamous  trap  —  to  ensnare  t;o 
doom  a  pure  and  tender  woman! 

At  once  the  soldiers  spread  the  news. 

"  She  has  relapsed! "  was  the  cry. 

Think  how  unutterably  she  must  have  suffered  —  as  a 
woman,  as  a  Christian,  as  a  prisoner,  as  a  martyr! 

Her  judges  came  to  see  her  next  day. 

"Forlorn,  weeping,  bruised,  and  disfigured!" 

Thus  they  found  the  heroine  of  France. 

"  Let  me  die  at  once  rather  than  suffer  longer  in  this 
prison,"  she  prayed. 

"  I  have  never  done  anything  against  God  or  the  faith, 
whatever  you  have  made  me  revoke.  I  did  not  under- 
stand what  was  in  that  deed  of  abjuration." 

But  her  fate  was  sealed  now. 

The  judges  all  agreed  that  she  had  relapsed  into  her 
heresy  and  must  be  burnt. 

Gravely  the  monks  showed  her  the  dreadful  reality  that 
faced  her. 

She  wept  piteously  and  tore  her  hair. 


254  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

"  Oh,  I  appeal  to  God  against  the  wrong  done  to  me!  " 

They  wanted  her  to  "  retract "  again.  But  she  yielded 
no  more. 

"  Master  Peter,  where  shall  I  be  to-night  ? "  asked  the 
pale,  anguished  lips,  speaking  to  one  of  the  monks  who 
seemed  to  look  kindly  on  her. 

"  Have  you  not  a  good  hope  in  God  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Ah,  yes;  and  by  God's  grace  I  shall  be  in  Paradise  to- 
night! " 

Let  the  judges  go  —  and  come  no  more. 

The  record  is  made  up  —  made  up  for  all  the  ages  — 
made  up  to  be  cursed  and  bitterly  despised  and  hated  by 
all  the  sons  of  men  forever ! 

Let  the  English  heart  be  satisfied. 

In  all  their  race  for  empire,  reeking  at  every  step  with 
the  blood  of  the  weak,  there  is  nothing  worse  than  this. 

Let  the  axes  ring  as  timbers  are  cut  and  fagots  laid  to 
make  the  funeral  pile. 

And  away  off  at  the  cottage  of  Domremy,  hard  by  the 
Meuse,  let  the  old  father  and  mother  bend  their  aged  heads 
and  pray  for  the  little  girl  who  used  to  give  all  her  coins 
to  the  poor,  who  had  soft  words  and  ready  help  for  all  the 
sick,  who  would  give  up  her  bed  and  sleep  on  the  floor 
when  the  tired  stranger  came  by  and  asked  for  rest  and 
shelter!  They  will  see  her  no  more. 

The  French  have  basely  sold  her;  the  English  have 
basely  bought  her;  the  king  she  served  has  forgotten  her; 
the  Church  she  loved  has  drawn  the  dead-line  about  her; 
—  and  look  wherever  she  may,  no  valiant  arm  strives  for 
her  deliverance,  no  friendly  lips  speak  audible  defence. 
Those  who  least  deserve  to  live  are  living.  She  who  most 
deserved  to  live  is  to  live  no  more. 


xv  JOAN  OF  ARC  AND  CHARLES  THE   SEVENTH         265 

She  receives  the  Sacrament,  with  tears  and  deep  devotion. 

Clad  in  a  woman's  long  gown,  she  is  put  into  a  cart, 
and,  guarded  by  800  soldiers,  she  is  taken  through  the 
crowded  streets. 

Who  is  this  comes  rushing  through  the  multitude,  break- 
ing through  the  ranks  of  the  soldiers  and  striving  to  reach 
Joan  ?  It  is  a  haggard,  miserable  monk, —  Loyseleur,  the 
false  friend. 

Racked  by  remorse,  he  has  come  to  ask  her  forgiveness. 
The  soldiers  drive  him  back. 

Joan,  weeping  and  praying,  her  face  bent  upon  her 
hands,  neither  sees  nor  hears  him. 

What  are  the  people  doing  ? 

Grieving,  lamenting,  sympathizing, —  nothing  more. 

"  O  Rouen,  is  it  here  that  I  must  die  ?  "  she  cried. 

Here  and  now,  Joan.  The  time  is  come,  poor  child, 
and  the  white  arms  of  death  will  take  you  soon  into  his 
infinite  rest.  A  little  longer,  and  the  tears  will  cease  for- 
ever, and  thy  splendid  courage  be  tried  no  more! 

In  the  old  market-place  they  have  built  three  scaffolds, 
one  for  the  bishops  and  the  nobles  who  wished  to  see  the 
execution,  another  for  Joan  and  some  priests  and  officials, 
the  third  for  Joan  alone. 

The  last  sermon  is  preached :  "  Joan,  go  in  peace !  The 
Church  can  no  longer  defend  you." 

God  save  us  all  from  such  defence  as  the  Church  gave 
Joan. 

Only  a  few  moments  are  left  to  her. 

She  does  not  see  the  crowd  any  more,  nor  hear  them. 
She  kneels  and  prays  aloud,  prays  fervently,  prays  pas- 
sionately,—  prays  for  her  king,  prays  for  her  friends, 
prays  for  her  enemies! 


266  THE   STORY  OF   FRANCE  CHAP,  xv 

All  who  hear  her  are  touched  with  a  great  compassion. 

Even  the  bishop  weeps.  She  begs  for  a  cross.  She 
embraces  it,  weeping,  calling  upon  God  and  the  saints. 

"Hurry  up  this  business."  "Are  we  going  to  wait 
here  for  dinner  ?  "  Thus  cry  the  English  soldiers. 

"Take  her!  take  her,  and  do  your  duty,"  hastily  ex- 
claims the  bailiff  of  Rouen  to  the  executioner. 

Soldiers  brutally  drag  Joan  to  the  third  pile,  which,  as 
we  said,  was  made  for  her  alone.  She  is  fastened  to  the 
stake  high  up  on  the  scaffold,  that  the  flames  may  be  slow 
in  releasing  her  to  the  dread  keeping  of  death. 

They  set  fire  to  the  pile.  A  monk  is  by  her  side,  pray- 
ing with  her,  and  comforting  her.  His  heart  so  yearns 
over  the  desolate  girl  that  he  does  not  notice  the  ascend- 
ing flames. 

Praise  to  thee,  royal  soul!  Never  wilt  thou  do  a  nobler 
thing. 

She  saw  his  danger  and  bade  him  go  down. 

"  But  hold  up  the  cross,  that  I  may  see  it,"  she  pleaded. 

Up  spring  the  flames,  fiercely  leaping,  wildly  playing; 
and  they  catch  the  shrinking  flesh  in  their  red  and  hungry 
arms. 

But  she  feels  no  fear.  The  good  priest  holds  the  cross 
almost  in  the  midst  of  the  fire;  and  out  of  the  terrible 
furnace  of  flames  she  is  heard  crying,  "  Jesus,  Jesus,  Mary. 
My  Voices." 

Then,  uttering  one  great  cry,  "  Jesus,"  she  droops  her 
head  upon  her  breast  and  dies. 

"Ten  thousand  men  are  weeping.  Some  Englishmen 
alone  laugh,  or  try  to  laugh,"  says  the  historian. 

The  ashes  are  collected  and  thrown  into  the  Seine. 


CHAPTER   XVI 
JOAN  OF  ARC  (continued) 

TO  AN  was  dead,  but  the  national  spirit  she  had  aroused 
was  not  to  die  with  her. 

The  English  caused  the  son  of  King  Henry  V.  to  be    A.D. 
formally  crowned  and  consecrated  at  Paris,  December,    1431 
1431,  but  the  French  grew  even  more  restive  under  the 
foreign  yoke.     The  war  went  on,  and  the  tide  of  success 
turned  steadily  against  the  invaders. 

At  length,  in  1435,  the  Treaty  of  Arras  brought  the    A.D. 
Duke  of  Burgundy  into  alliance  with  the  French  party.    1435 
Soon  thereafter  Charles  VII.  entered  Paris  in  triumph, — 
the  English  troops  were  withdrawing. 

The  wicked  Queen  Isabella,  looking  from  the  windows  A.D. 
of  her  palace  in  Paris,  saw  the  young  English  prince  on  1436 
his  way  to  be  crowned  king  of  France. 

Some  one  pointed  her  out  to  the  boy  and  he  saluted  her. 
She  was  his  grandmother. 

Turning  away  from  the  window,  it  is  said  that  she  wept 
bitterly.  Neglected  by  the  English,  despised  by  the 
French,  old  and  unloved  and  unhappy,  her  last  days  are 
said  to  have  been  wretched.  As  the  people  would  pass 
her  house  they  would  point  to  it  and  say,  "  There  lives 
the  cause  of  all  the  sorrow  that  is  in  France."  She  died 
a  few  days  after  the  Peace  of  Arras. 

Twenty-four  years  come  and  go.     The  French  king  sits 

3  257 


258  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

securely  upon  his  throne,  and  all  goes  well  with  the  mon- 
archy. 

But  it  occurs  to  Charles  that  there  is  one  shade  upon 
his  glory.  He  cannot  forget  that  the  people  ascribe  his 
success  to  Joan  of  Arc.  He  feels  that  history  must  do 
the  same. 

But  the  Church  has  said  that  Joan  was  a  sorceress,  a 
witch.  She  was  burnt  under  conviction  of  being  an  emis- 
sary of  the  Devil. 

Dull  as  Charles  is,  he  realizes  that  Joan's  reputation  is 
to  some  extent  his.  He  made  no  attempt  to  save  her  life 
—  not  he.  Nor  would  he  do  so  now.  Joan's  welfare  is 
not  his  thought  at  all.  He  merely  wishes  to  clear  his  rec- 
ord, so  that  it  may  not  be  held  against  him  that  he  owes 
his  crown  to  a  condemned  sorceress  —  a  she-devil. 

What  must  Charles  do  ?  Did  not  the  Church  decide 
against  her  at  the  bidding  of  a  king  ? 

Even  so. 

Cannot  the  Church  decide  for  her  at  the  bidding  of  a 
king. 

Even  so.  Just  as  it  did  before  she  was  allowed  to  pro- 
ceed on  her  mission.  Straightway  preparation  is  made  to 
have  a  new  trial  of  the  case. 

Dead  these  many  years  is  Joan's  father  —  dead  of  a 
broken  heart,  they  say,  because  of  his  daughter's  fearful 
fate. 

But  the  mother  still  lives,  and  the  brothers. 

They  are  led  to  petition  the  Pope  to  grant  a  new  trial. 
Perchance  mistakes  were  made.  The  verdict  may  have 
been  a  trifle  hasty.  Joan  may,  after  all,  have  been  en- 
titled to  a  verdict  of  acquittal. 

Petitions  accordingly  are  laid  before  the  Pope.     Gra- 


xvi  JOAN  OF  ARC  269 

ciously  he  orders  a  rehearing  of  the  case,  to  see  if  indeed 
Joan  cannot  be  "rehabilitated." 

Not  brought  back  to  sunny  love  and  life  ;  not  brought 
back  to  breathe  the  breath  of  praise,  to  hear  the  plea  of 
passionate  regret,  to  walk  with  queenly  step  amid  a  re- 
deemed and  happy  people  ! 

No.     The  Church  cannot  bring  her  back,  but  it  can 

"  rehabilitate  "  her. 

##*#**### 

So  they  set  about  it.  There  is  a  great  assembling  of 
dignitaries,  doctors,  officials  big  and  little. 

There  is  a  great  hearing  of  testimony.  In  stately 
review  Joan's  brief  life  is  made  to  pass. 

Her  mother  testifies,  her  brothers,  her  playmates, 
her  army  friends,  her  former  judges.  Even  the  tor- 
turers, who  were  present  when  she  was  threatened  in  the 
dungeon,  are  called  in  to  testify. 

Any  amount  of  evidence  can  now  be  had,  for  a  king's 
honour  is  at  stake. 

The  result  is  that  Joan  is  shown  to  have  been  a  pure 
child,  a  pure  girl,  a  pure  maiden.  A  child  who  so  loved 
the  church  bells  that  she  would  carry  little  gifts  to  the 
bell  ringer,  and  ask  him,  in  the  sweetest  way,  not  to  be 
careless  or  negligent  in  ringing  them.  A  girl  who  was  so 
devout  that  the  only  reproach  cast  upon  her  was  that  she 
was  too  religious.  A  maiden  who  was  so  pure  that 
she  turned  away  from  lovers,  honours,  and  riches,  that  she 
might  consecrate  her  life  to  the  divine  call  of  duty. 

All  this  is  easy  enough  to  prove  now,  for  the  king  wants 
it  proved. 

And  it  is  easy  for  the  Church  to  see  it  now,  for  the 
king  wants  it  seen. 


260  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Therefore  solemn  judgment  is  rendered  in  Joan's  favour. 
She  is  unanimously  acquitted  of  the  charges  made  against 
her.  The  verdict  of  guilty  is  quashed,  and  Joan  formally 
declared  "  rehabilitated." 

Joan's  family  feel  gratified. 

The  people  feel  gratified. 

The  Church  feels  gratified. 

The  king,  especially,  feels  gratified. 

Joan,  only,  feels  nothing.     Joan  is  dead. 

Twenty-five  years  have  passed  away  since  the  fires  at 
Rouen  burned  out  and  died  ;  since  the  ashes  of  the  brave 
and  tender  girl  were  cast  in  the  Seine,  and  were  carried 
forth  to  sublime  burial  in  the  sad  and  solemn  sea,  where 
only  the  mourning  waves  could  chant  her  dirge,  the 
silent  stars  light  her  funeral,  and  the  great  God  mark 
her  grave. 

********* 

Joan  of  Arc  is  one  of  the  Mystics  —  one  of  those 
strangely  endowed  and  inspired  people,  who,  with  the 
slenderest  human  support,  alter  the  course  of  the  world's 
history. 

Like  Mohammed,  Peter  the  Hermit,  and  Ignatius  Loyola, 
there  seemed  to  be  nothing  supernatural  about  her,  save 
her  intense  concentration  of  purpose  and  the  vivid  imagi- 
nation which  made  fancies  appear  realities. 

The  world  cannot  comprehend  such  characters,  nor 
resist  them,  nor  forget  them. 

Joan  lives  as  truly  to-day  as  when  she  laid  flowers  upon 
the  altars,  or  when  she  led  the  wavering  lines  of  battle 
back  to  victory. 

Possessing  no  relic  of  her,  no  painting,  no  full  descrip- 
tion, the  minds  of  after  generations  have  tried  earnestly 


xvi  JOAN   OF  ARC  261 

to  realize  the  face  and  the  form  of  this  "  country  girl  who 
overthrew  the  power  of  England." 

Poets  have  sung  of  her  in  immortal  verse  ;  painters 
have  dreamed  of  her  on  imperishable  canvas  ;  sculptors, 
in  the  purity  and  strength  of  marble,  have  made  her 
appear  in  the  lovely  shape  she  took  in  their  own  ideals. 

Splendid  monuments  commemorate  her  at  Orleans  and 
at  Paris.  Every  year  at  Orleans  a  festival  is  held  in  her 
honour,  as  it  has  been,  with  few  intervals,  ever  since  her 
death. 

The  French  have  loved  many  kings,  warriors,  states- 
men, poets,  and  philosophers,  but  it  may  be  safely  said 
that  in  those  sacred  national  archives,  where  veneration 
and  love  and  profound  respect  guard  the  priceless  heritage 
of  great  names  and  glorious  examples,  no  king,  no  chief- 
tain, no  statesman,  poet,  or  philosopher,  disputes  the  place 
held  by  the  shepherd  girl,  who  was  to  France  what  the 
shepherd  boy  was  to  Israel. 


CHAPTER   XVII 

LAST  YEARS   OF   CHARLES   THE   SEVENTH 
His  DEATH 

T7RANCE  had  been  so  long  the  theatre  of  war  that  she 
was  well-nigh  desolate.    Three  generations  of  military 
strife  had  brutalized  and  impoverished  her  people.     Rob- 
bers infested  the  highways,  ruffian  soldiers  roamed  here 
and  there  pillaging  and  ravishing  and  burning.     Com- 
merce nearly  ceased,  and  agriculture  almost  abandoned 
its  fields.     Crime  and  disorder  ran  riot  over  the  unhappy 
land. 
A.D.        In   Paris  24,000  houses  were  empty,  and  the   streets 

1  A^fl 

were  so  deserted  that  wolves  came  into  the  city.  During 
a  single  week  in  September,  1438,  they  devoured  forty 
persons. 

A  few  large  towns,  protected  by  high  and  thick  stone 
walls,  were  secure  from  marauders ;  but  the  smaller  vil- 
lages were  the  helpless  prey  of  the  lawless  soldiery  of 
both  sides. 

Edward  III.  of  England  had  led  an  army  from  one  end 
of  France  to  the  other,  but  being  unable  either  to  take 
the  walled  cities,  or  to  find  glory  or  booty,  or  even  suffi- 
cient food,  in  merely  overrunning  the  open  country,  he 
was  quick  to  patch  up  a  hasty  peace,  and  to  get  away 
from  war-cursed  France. 

262 


CHAP,  xvn    LAST  YEARS  OF  CHARLES  THE   SEVENTH         263 

Worn  out  by  suffering  and  tired  of  bloodshed,  the 
French  people  yearned  for  a  strong  government ;  and  it 
suited  King  Charles  to  give  it  them  —  a  much  stronger 
one,  as  it  proved,  than  the  people  had  suspected  it 
would  be. 

The  turbulent  feudal  nobility  were  irksome  to  the  king, 
as  well  as  to  the  people.  Their  strength  when  combined 
was  stronger  than  his.  To  reign  at  all,  he  had  to  pay 
his  court  to  his  powerful  vassals,  and  to  keep  a  majority 
of  them  satisfied.  Their  rivalries,  jealousies,  and  ambi- 
tions were  a  constant  menace  to  the  royal  authority  and 
to  the  peace  of  the  realm. 

Guided  by  wise  advisers,  Charles  entered  upon  that 
line  of  policy  which  was  to  concentrate  all  power  in  the 
hands  of  the  king  —  independent  of  the  feudal  lords  upon 
the  one  hand,  and  of  the  people  on  the  other. 

In  his  youth  and  early  manhood  Charles  had  been  idle, 
irresolute,  and  licentious.  Gradually  as  he  reached  mid- 
dle life  a  great  change  came  over  him.  His  dangers,  his 
trials,  and  his  success  had  developed  him.  He  became  in- 
dustrious, resolute,  and  far-seeing.  He  worked  on  defi- 
nite plans,  waited  patiently  for  opportunities,  was  not 
to  be  turned  from  his  purpose,  and  in  the  end  revolution- 
ized France  by  crowning  his  schemes  with  success. 

Much  of  the  wisdom  of  his  later  years  he  owed  to  his 
good  advisers,  De  Richemont,  De  la  Fayette,  Jean  Bureau, 
Jacques  Co3ur.  His  favourite  concubine,  Agnes  Sorel, 
is  also  said  to  have  used  her  influence  over  the  king  for 
the  good  of  the  country. 

The  revolution  effected  by  Charles  consisted  in  estab- 
lishing a  standing  army  and  a  permanent  direct  land-tax. 

Previous  to  this  time  (1439)  there  had  been  no  stand- 


264  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

ing  army  or  permanent  direct  tax  since  the  downfall  of 
the  Roman  Empire. 

Armies  had  been  made  up  of  the  feudal  tenants  who 
owed  military  service,  usually  forty  days  in  the  year,  for 
the  use  of  their  lands.  In  addition  to  these,  mercenary 
troops  were  hired  for  temporary  use. 

These  ruffians  very  frequently  got  no  pay  beyond  the 
booty  incident  to  the  pillage  of  towns  and  the  sack  of 
cities  captured. 
A.D.        By  the  Ordinance  of  Orleans,  passed  by  the  States  Gen- 

1439  eral  in  1439,  Charles  was  authorized  to  create  a  standing 
army  of  9000  cavalry.     To  support  this  body  of  troops,  the 
king  was  granted  a  permanent  direct  tax  of  1,400,000  livres. 

By  another  ordinance,  passed  in  1448,  lie  was  authorized 
to  establish  an  infantry  force,  each  of  the  16,000  par- 
ishes of  France  being  required  to  furnish  one  foot-soldier. 

By  the  formation  of  a  standing  army  the  king  had 
made  himself  independent  of  the  feudal  lords.  This  the 
common  people  saw.  They  did  not  also  see  that  it  made 
him  independent  of  the  people. 

Realizing  the   danger,  the  nobles  revolted,  the  king's 
eldest  son  heading  them. 
A.D.        The  common  people  of  the  country,  and  the  merchants, 

1440  artisans,  and  laborers  of  the  towns  dreaded  the  monarch 
less  than  they  hated  the  despotic  feudal  lords,  and  they 
therefore  rallied  to  the  support  of  the  throne.     The  rebel- 
lion was  crushed;   one  of  its  leaders,  a  relative  of  the 
king,  was  sewn  up  in  a  sack  and  tossed  into  the  Seine ; 
and  the  others  were  then  ready  for  argument  and  open  to 
conviction.     The  king's  son,  Louis,  retired  to  his  own 
dominions,  Dauphiny,  where  he  continued  to  plot  against 
his  father  and  to  foment  miscellaneous  deviltry. 


xvn  LAST  YEARS  OF  CHARLES  THE   SEVENTH  265 

Under  the  management  of  Jacques  Coeur,  the  merchant 
prince  of  his  time,  the  financial  administration  of  the 
kingdom  was  systematized  and  concentrated.  Individual 
receivers  of  public  moneys  were  made  to  account  to  the 
receiver-general,  and  the  receiver-general  made  to  re- 
port to  the  Chamber  of  Accounts.  The  great  officers  of 
the  crown  were  made  to  report  once  a  month  to  the  king 
himself. 

Simple  as  these  regulations  now  seem,  they  were  then 
regarded  as  radical  reforms. 

The  courtiers  who  fawned  around  the  king  owed 
Jacques  Cosur  two  mortal  grudges.  He  had  risen  from 
the  commons  to  wealth  and  high  station,  and  he  had 
guided  the  monarch  to  his  independence  of  the  nobles. 

Jacques  was  very  rich.  He  was  the  Rothschild  of  his 
day,  unscrupulous,  perhaps,  and  slippery,  but  true  to  his 
king  and  his  country.  He  was  the  first  Frenchman  who 
tapped  the  trade  of  the  East.  He  was  the  pioneer  of 
those  merchants  who  have  since  founded  empires  and 
changed  the  map  of  the  world. 

Jacques  was  the  first  man  of  all  France  to  build  ships 
and  export  to  Africa  and  Egypt  the  merchandise  of 
France,  bringing  back  the  spices  and  the  silks  of  the 
East. 

Not  only  did  his  ships  sail  the  seas,  but  he  opened 
mines  of  silver,  lead,  and  copper  in  France,  and  carried 
on  at  the  same  time  a  manufacturing  business  which  gave 
employment  to  300  hands. 

Attracting  the  notice  of  the  king,  he  was  promoted 
until  he  became  treasurer  of  France  and  the  coiner  of  the 
realm. 

In  many  fields  was  Jacques  most  useful  to  the  king. 


266  THE  STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

As  a  diplomat  he  reconciled  the  squabbles  of  the  two  old 
men,  Felix  and  Nicolas,  each  of  whom  claimed  to  be  pope 
and  personal  representative  of  Jesus  Christ. 

As  royal  commissioner  he  pacified  the  estates  of  Lan- 
guedoc,  and  attended  to  the  installation  of  the  new  parlia- 
ment of  Toulouse. 

As  treasurer  he  brought  to  the  king's  finances  good 
order  and  steady  revenues. 

As  a  wealthy  subject  he  opened  his  purse  to  his  mon- 
arch and  loaned  him,  when  greatly  needed,  two  hundred 
thousand  crowns,  saying,  with  splendid  loyalty,  "  Sire, 
all  that  I  possess  belongs  to  you." 

To  no  one  after  Joan  of  Arc  did  Charles  owe  more  than 
to  Jacques  ;  and  to  no  one  after  Joan  was  Charles  so 
royally  mean  and  ungrateful. 

The  courtiers  made  Charles  suspect  that  Jacques  had 
poisoned  Agnes  Sorel,  and  when  that  accusation  com- 
pletely failed,  they  made  a  general  complaint  that 
Jacques  had  too  much  property.  The  old  king,  the 
most  suspicious  of  mortals,  turned  against  his  glorious 
subject,  stripped  him  of  all  his  wealth,  shut  him  up  in 
prison,  and  divided  out  among  the  envious  courtiers  the 
lands  and  the  palaces  of  the  greatest  business  man  France 
had  produced. 

A.D.        Jacques  spent  nearly  five  years  in  prison  ;   was  taken 
M55   from   jt,   by   force,   by  some   of   his   former   clerks   and 
agents  ;  was  carried  to  Rome,  and  was  there  honourably 
received  by  Pope  Nicolas  V. 

His  last  service  was  heroic.  Appointed  by  the  Pope 
commander  of  a  small  crusading  fleet,  he  sailed  away 
from  Italy  to  carry  help  to  the  Greeks,  who  were 
resisting  the  Turks. 


xvn  LAST  YEARS   OF   CHARLES  THE   SEVENTH  267 

Arriving  at  Chios  he  fell  ill  there,  November,  1456,  and 
died,  praying  the  French  king,  in  a  last  letter,  not  to  let 
his  children  come  to  want. 

The  policies  of  the  king  were  completely  successful. 
The  permanent  tax  made  him  self-reliant.  The  people, 
by  granting  this  tax,  had  lost  the  power  of  controlling  the 
monarch  by  refusing  supplies.  Having  no  further  need 
for  the  States  General,  he  ceased  to  assemble  the  delegates 
as  had  been  his  custom  when  he  needed  their  help.  The 
States  General  was,  henceforth,  almost  extinct. 

As  previously  stated,  the  nobles  foresaw  the  royal 
despotism  which  would  grow  out  of  these  changes,  but 
their  resistance  failed. 

The  common  people,  with  the  exception  of  a  slight 
rising  in  Guienne,  did  not  resist  at  all. 

So  weary  were  they  with  war  and  confusion  that  they 
either  sanctioned  the  royal  encroachment,  or  humbly 
submitted  to  it. 

Instead  of  reserving  to  themselves  the  power  of  voting 
supplies  and  of  controlling  the  military,  they  surrendered, 
voluntarily,  the  principle  which  involved  liberty  and 
security  —  not  only  surrendered  it,  but  fought  on  the 
side  of  the  king  to  maintain  the  surrender.  They  could 
not  foresee  that  this  concession  of  theirs  would  be 
pushed  further  and  further  by  the  kings  of  France 
until  it  should  become  intolerable  to  men  and  gods, 
and  that,  after  generations  of  misery,  the  reaction  would 
come  —  come  in  madness  and  blood,  and  be  called  the 
French  Revolution. 

Thomas  Basin,  a  historian  of  that  day,  realized  the 
far-reaching  nature  of  the  royal  encroachments,  and  he 
wrote,  "  Into  such  misery  and  servitude  is  fallen  the 


268  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP,  xvn 

realm  of  France,  heretofore  so  noble  and  free,  that  all 
the  inhabitants  are  openly  declared,  by  the  generals  of 
finance  and  their  clerks,  taxable  at  the  will  of  the  king 
without  anybody's  daring  to  murmur  or  even  to  ask  for 
mercy." 

But  while  the  king  was  rigorous  in  enforcing  his  own 
authority,  he  was  equally  resolute  in  putting  down  crime. 
He  cleared  the  highways  of  robbers,  opened  roads  through 
dangerous  forests,  put  an  end  to  the  ruffianism  of  wander- 
ing soldiers,  restored  peace  and  good  order,  and  took  care 
that  practical  justice  should  be  administered  in  his  courts 
to  the  poor  as  well  as  the  rich. 

"  He  is  the  king  of  kings,  and  there  is  no  doing  without 
him,"  said  Francis  Foscari,  doge  of  Venice. 

And  yet  this  "  king  of  kings  "  was,  perhaps,  the  most 
wretched  man  in  all  his  dominions. 

He  distrusted  his  people,  and  shut  himself  up  in  his 
castle,  indulging  himself  in  evil  pleasures.  He  had 
banished  his  wife  from  court,  and  suspected  his  son  of 
a  design  to  poison  him. 

Old  and  suspicious  and  lonely,  the  king  of  France 
was  a  prey  to  his  own  terrors  and  timid  fancies. 

Some  historians  say  he  died  of  an  incurable  ulcer  on  his 
mouth.  Others  say  that  he  would  not  eat,  fearing  poison, 
and  thus,  to  avoid  the  risk  of  murder,  he  chose  the 
certainty  of  suicide. 

Whether  from  the  ulcer  or  the  starvation,  it  is  certain 
that  he  died  miserably,  July  22,  1461. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

LOUIS  THE  ELEVENTH 

"TF  I  thought  my  own  cap  knew  my  secrets,  I  would 
throw  it  into  the  fire,"  was  a  favourite  saying  of  the 
prince  who  now,  at  the  age  of  thirty-eight,  became  king 
of  France,  under  the  name  of  Louis  XI. 

For  five  years  he  had  been  living  in  exile,  at  the  Castle 
of  Genappe,  in  Hainault,  beyond  the  dominions  of  his 
royal  father,  and  within  those  of  Philip  the  Good,  Duke 
of  Burgundy. 

Louis  had  ever  been  a  factious,  impatient  son  —  indig- 
nant, apparently,  at  his  father's  continuance  in  life. 

At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  had  appeared  at  the  head  of 
a  rebellion  of  the  feudal  lords,  as  we  have  already  seen. 
Upon  the  failure  of  that  attempt  to  seize  the  throne,  he 
had  retired  to  his  own  principality,  Dauphiny. 

He  had  married  a  charming  princess,  Margaret  Stuart, 
of  Scotland,  and  he  had  led  her  such  a  wretched  life  that, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  she  had  died,  with  these  words 
upon  her  lips  :  "  Oh  !  fie  on  life  !  Speak  to  me  no  more 
of  it." 

Continuing  to  plot  and  to  negotiate  secret  leagues 
against  his  father,  he  had  aroused  the  wrath  and  dread  of 
Charles  to  such  a  pitch  that  the  royal  father  had  mustered 
his  troops  to  make  war  upon  this  dangerous  son. 

Louis  thereupon  fled  from  France  and  went  to  Brussels, 

269 


270  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

where  the  good  Duke  Philip  of  Burgundy  gave  him  refuge 
and  a  pension  of  36,000  livres. 

Remarking  upon  the  conduct  of  Duke  Philip,  Charles 
VII.  said  :  "  He  has  received  the  fox  at  his  court,  he  will 
soon  see  what  will  become  of  his  chickens." 

Charles'  opinion  of  his  son  Louis  was  eminently  correct; 
in  the  course  of  a  few  years  the  chickens  of  Burgundy  had 
become  the  spoil  of  the  crafty  and  cruel  Louis. 

Charles  having  died,  Louis  at  once  set  out  upon  his 
return  to  France.  He  was  attended  by  Philip  the  Good 
and  a  splendid  train  of  Burgundian  nobles.  On  the  18th 
of  August,  1461,  Louis  was  solemnly  crowned  and  conse- 
crated, at  Rheims,  in  the  presence  of  a  magnificent  assem- 
blage of  the  feudal  nobility  of  France  and  Burgundy. 

Philip  the  Good  had  behaved  most  handsomely  to  Louis, 
had  sheltered  him  when  a  fugitive,  had  supplied  him  with 
money  to  live  upon,  and  had  spent  enormous  sums  in 
making  the  coronation  a  grand  success. 

In  a  burst  of  seeming  gratitude,  Louis  lavished  upon 
Philip  the  Good  royal  flatteries  and  promises.  Every- 
thing that  Philip  asked,  Louis  granted,  in  promises. 

Philip  was  allowed  to  name  twenty-four  counsellors  to 
the  Parliament ;  but  not  one  of  them  did  Louis  ever  allow 
to  take  his  seat. 

He  promised  the  duke  that  Burgundian  goods  should 
have  free  passage  across  the  French  frontiers  provided 
the  French  Parliament  consented ;  and  Louis  took  good 
care  that  the  Parliament  should  not  consent. 

Philip  the  Good  returned  home  rich  in  promises  but 
bankrupt  in  cash.  Louis  went  forward  to  Paris  to  settle 
himself  in  the  midst  of  a  web  of  intrigues  and  treacheries, 
and  to  earn  for  himself  the  name  of  "  the  universal  spider." 


xvm  LOUIS  THE   ELEVENTH  271 

So  deeply  did  he  plan,  so  zealously  and  patiently  did  he 
work,  that  when  he  died,  twenty-one  years  afterwards, 
France  was  no  longer  feudal  or  mediaeval  ;  she  was 
modern. 

Louis  was  a  great  king.  A  thoroughly  bad  man  and 
utterly  unscrupulous  in  method,  yet  his  lifework  was, 
upon  the  whole,  a  benefit  to  mankind.  He  was  crafty, 
deceitful,  cruel,  and  calculating.  Not  wanting  in  courage, 
he  shrank  from  war  because  he  placed  more  reliance  in  his 
artful  management  of  men,  his  briberies,  his  deceptions, 
his  cajoleries.  He  was  the  first  of  modern  kings  who  relied 
upon  statecraft  rather  than  force,  who  trusted  his  in- 
tellect rather  than  his  sword.  He  understood  human 
nature,  especially  the  darker  side  of  it ;  and  his  policy  was 
to  control  men  through  their  interests  and  their  fears. 
He  loved  to  punish,  but  he  could  restrain  his  hand  and 
bide  his  time.  No  feeling  of  love  or  of  hate  was  allowed 
to  control  him.  Guided  by  a  cold,  clear  intelligence,  he 
moved  crookedly  but  constantly  toward  his  aims,  and  ac- 
complished them. 

Louis  commenced  his  reign  by  a  serious  mistake.  He 
dismissed  his  father's  trusted  and  experienced  counsellors 
and  replaced  them  with  new  men  of  low  degree. 

One  of  these  new  counsellors  of  the  king  had  been  a 
doctor,  another  a  barber,  and  a  third  a  cook. 

This  rash  act  created  intense  anger  and  disgust  among 
the  upper  classes. 

Louis  also  raised  the  taxes  from  1,800,000  to  3,000,000 
livres.  Riots  broke  out  in  Rheims,  and  Louis  had  several 
of  the  citizens  hanged,  and  the  ears  of  many  others 
cropped. 

The  Parliament  of  Paris,  which  had  a  most  extensive 


272  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

jurisdiction,  was  curbed  by  the  creation  of  the  Parliament 
of  Bordeaux. 

The  Church  was  reduced  in  power,  some  of  its  privileges 
curtailed,  and  a  list  of  its  property  demanded,  in  order 
that  the  king  might  check  its  encroachments. 

The  aristocracy  was  still  more  seriously  threatened.  The 
king  commenced  bestowing  titles  of  nobility  with  free 
hand  upon  persons  of  low  birth ;  and  he  put  restrictions 
upon  the  feudal  rights  of  hunting,  to  defend  agriculture 
against  the  havoc  made  by  aristocratic  amusements.  He 
also  revived  against  the  feudal  lords  certain  feudal  dues 
which  had  not  been  claimed  by  the  late  king,  and  de- 
manded immediate  payment  of  these  dues. 

Thus  Louis  went  on  making  enemies  for  four  years, 
and  then  a  rebellion  broke  out. 

The    great    nobles    confederated    under    the    lead    of 
Charles  the  Rash,  son  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy. 
A.D.        This  revolt  was  called  the  "  League  of  the  Common 
1465   \Yeai."      The    rebels    drew    over    to    their    side    Louis' 
brother,  Charles,  a  young  man  of  eighteen.     Their  de- 
clared purpose  was  to  reform  the  abuses  of  "  the  piteous 
government  of  Louis  XI." 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  excellent  standing  army  his 
father  had  organized,  Louis  would  have  been  lost. 
Nearly  every  one  of  his  trusted  supporters  deserted  him. 
He  had  angered  all  classes,  and  all  turned  against 
him. 

In  his  distress  he  summoned  a  meeting  of  the  burgesses 
of  the  towns  at  Rouen,  and  made  a  personal  appeal  to 
the  common  people  for  aid.  He  explained  his  measures 
and  his  intentions,  and  won  over  to  his  side  these  depu- 
ties from  the  northern  towns.  He  also  assembled  the 


xviii  LOUIS   THE   ELEVENTH  273 

nobles   and   addressed   them    with   great   eloquence,  but 
could  not  prevail  upon  them. 

The  army  of  the  "  League  of  the  Common  Weal "  ad- 
vanced  upon   Paris,  fought   the   king   in   the  battle   of 
Montlhery,    and   remained    masters    of    the   field.      The    A.D. 
king,  however,  shut  himself  up  in  Paris  and  began  to   ] 
negotiate  for  peace.     In  a  short  while  the  nobles  who 
composed  the  League  grew  tired  of  the  war,  developed 
jealousies   among   themselves,  and  were   ready  to  make 
terms  with  the  king. 

By  the  Treaty  of  Conflans  Louis  conceded  everything 
the  rebels  demanded,  trusting  to  luck  to  get  it  all  back 
again. 

He  ceded  Normandy,  almost  one-third  of  his  kingdom, 
to  his  brother  Charles.  To  Charles  the  Rash,  son  of  the 
Duke  of  Burgundy,  he  ceded  Boulogne,  Guienne,  Peronne, 
and  the  towns  of  the  Sornine.  To  the  Duke  of  Brittany 
he  granted  Etampes,  exemption  from  appeals  to  Parlia- 
ment, dispensation  from  feudal  dues,  and  the  right  of 
coining  money.  To  the  other  members  of  the  League  he 
granted  lands  and  enormous  pensions. 

After  the  feudal  lords  had  provided  for  themselves  in 
this  handsome  manner,  they  bethought  themselves  of  the 
"Public  Weal."  Consequently  they  appointed  a  com- 
mission of  thirty-six  notables  to  inquire  into  the  abuses 
and  disorders  of  "the  piteous  government  of  Louis  XI." 
This  commission  did  nothing. 

So  very  narrow  had  been  Louis'  escape  from  absolute 
ruin,  that  the  memory  of  it  remained  with  him  to  the 
last,  and  his  dying  advice  to  his  son  was  to  avoid  the  mis- 
take of  dismissing  the  old  and  trusted  counsellors  of  the 
crown  at  the  beginning  of  his  new  reign. 


274  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

The  Treaty  of  Conflans  left  Louis  fatally  crippled. 
France  was  dismembered  and  cut  up  into  half  a  dozen 
little  kingdoms.  Any  two  of  the  great  feudal  houses 
might  combine,  and  find  themselves  more  powerful  than 
the  humbled  king. 

Two  pillars  of  strength  were  left  him,  his  standing 
army,  and  his  own  matchless  skill  in  dealing  with  other 
men.  The  Treaty  of  Conflans  had  hardly  been  signed 
and  the  League  dissolved  before  Louis  set  about  tearing 
it  up. 

The  Parliament  of  Paris,  instigated  by  the  king,  re- 
fused to  ratify  and  register  the  treaty. 

Trouble  broke  out  between  the  Duke  of  Normandy  and 
the  Duke  of  Brittany.  Louis  took  advantage  of  it  to 
march  into  Normandy,  overrun  it  with  his  army,  and  re- 
attach  it  to  France. 

How  did  Louis  prevent  the  League  from  resisting  this 
violation  of  the  recent  treaty  ? 

A.D.  By  stirring  up  a  revolt  among  the  Flemish  subjects  of 
Charles  the  Rash,  who  by  the  death  of  his  father  had 
become  Duke  of  Burgundy,  and  thus  keeping  him  busy 
at  home  ;  by  coming  to  a  secret  understanding  with  the 
Duke  of  Brittany ;  by  making  separate  treaties  and  alli- 
ances with  the  houses  of  Bourbon  and  Anjou,  and  thus 
attaching  them  by  the  ties  of  interest  to  his  side  ;  by 
giving  high  office  to  the  Count  of  St.  Pol ;  and  by  grant- 
ing to  disaffected  burgesses  permanent  possession  of  their 
offices  and  exemption  from  taxation.  In  Paris,  espe- 
cially, he  used  every  means  of  attaching  the  leading  mer- 
chants of  the  city  to  his  cause. 

The  Dukes  of  Burgundy  and  Brittany  were  greatly 
alarmed  by  the  rapid  strides  to  power  which  Louis  was 


xvni  LOUIS  THE   ELEVENTH  275 

thus  making,  and  they  entered  into  an  alliance  with 
Edward  IV.  of  England,  who  was  to  invade  France  with 
an  army. 

Louis  summoned  the  delegates  of  the  people  in  con-  A.D. 
vention,  States  General,  and  laid  the  case  before  them. 
"  Do  you  want  France  to  lose  Normandy  ? "  asked  the 
king.  The  States  General  answered  with  emphatic  nega- 
tive, authorized  Louis  to  hold  on  to  Normandy,  and 
further  resolved  that  the  Duke  of  Brittany  should  be 
called  to  order. 

Louis  promptly  marched  into  Brittany  and  compelled 
the  rebellious  duke  to  submit. 

Instead  of  turning,  now,  upon  the  Duke  of  Burgundy 
and  reducing  him  to  subjection,  Louis  proposed  a  con- 
ference with  him.     Having  received  a  written  pledge  of 
safe-conduct,  Louis  went  almost  alone  to  visit  Charles  at    A.D. 
Peronne.  1468 

While  the  king  and  the  duke  were  discussing  terms 
of  peace  an  awkward  thing  happened.  Some  time  previ- 
ous to  this  interview,  Louis  had  sent  two  emissaries  to 
the  city  of  Liege,  one  of  Charles'  Flemish  towns,  to  stir 
up  a  rebellion  against  Charles.  It  seems  that  Louis  had 
either  forgotten  the  circumstance  when  he  went  upon  his 
visit  to  Charles,  or  had  presumed  that  the  emissaries  had 
made  a  failure. 

At  any  rate,  while  king  and  duke  were  hobnobbing  in 
the  friendliest  style,  each  doing  his  level  best  to  outwit 
and  overreach  the  other,  here  comes  a  pretty  piece  of 
news  !  Liege  is  in  revolt ;  there  is  riot  and  bloodshed ; 
the  rebels  of  Liege  sally  forth  and  capture  the  town  of 
Tongres  ;  and  the  two  emissaries  of  King  Louis  are  seen 
to  be  leading  the  insurgents. 


276  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Great  was  the  wrath  of  Charles.  Great  was  the  temp- 
tation to  strike  the  head  off  this  royal  guest,  King  Louis, 
then  and  there.  For  many  hours  Charles  was  undecided 
what  to  do,  raved  and  threatened,  strode  the  floor  with 
restless  steps,  and  lost  much  valuable  sleep. 

Louis,  in  the  meanwhile,  though  considerably  fright- 
ened, was  cool  and  crafty.  Realizing  that  he  was  caught 
in  his  own  snare,  he  ate  his  humble  pie  with  the  best  pos- 
sible grace,  calmly  waited  till  the  first  fury  of  Charles' 
wrath  should  pass,  and  dealt  out  among  the  friends  and 
advisers  of  Charles  large  sums  of  money. 

With  one  accord  these  friends  and  advisers  counselled 
Charles  to  release  Louis,  and,  headstrong  as  Charles 
was,  he  let  the  fox  out  of  the  trap  —  a  mistake  which 
Louis,  under  similar  circumstances,  might  not  have 
made. 

Hard  conditions,  however,  were  put  upon  Louis.  He 
was  required  to  go  with  Charles  to  help  put  down  the 
rebellion.  Readily  consenting,  he  joined  forces  with  the 
duke,  fought  with  courage  against  the  rebels  whom  he 
had  caused  to  revolt,  and  when  Liege  capitulated  entered 
the  city  side  by  side  with  Charles,  crying,  "  Hurrah  for 
Burgundy !  "  —  to  the  amazement  of  the  natives,  who 
knew  not  the  depths  of  royal  duplicity. 

Having  drained  this  cup  of  humiliation,  Louis  was 
allowed  to  return  to  France,  covered  with  ridicule  and 
shame. 

Louis  had  sworn  to  abide  by  the  treaty  he  had  made 
with  Charles  at  Peronne —  had  sworn  it  most  solemnly 
upon  a  piece  of  the  true  cross.  The  Treaty  of  Peronne 
merely  confirmed  that  of  Conflans,  and  bound  the  king  to 
carry  the  former  treaty  out. 


xvin  LOUIS  THE   ELEVENTH  277 

Louis  no  sooner  reached  his  own  dominions  than  he 
began  to  seek  means  of  evading  so  ruinous  a  compact. 

Instead  of  ceding  Normandy  again,  he  prevailed  upon 
his  brother  Charles  to  relinquish  his  claims  to  Normandy 
and  Champagne,  and  to  accept  the  province  of  Guienne, 
where  he  would  be  removed  from  the  influence  of  Duke 
Charles. 

Louis  had  been  advised  to  the  famous  meeting  at 
Peronne  by  Cardinal  Balue  and  the  bishop  of  Verdun. 
He  now  discovered  that  these  eminent  divines  had  been 
in  the  pay  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy.  With  considerable 
attention  to  details,  Louis  caused  to  be  made  two  iron 
cages,  eight  feet  broad  and  seven  feet  high,  and  in  these 
iron  cages  the  cardinal  and  the  bishop  spent  ten  years. 
That  Louis  dared  to  punish  these  princes  of  the  Church, 
in  disregard  of  the  Pope's  protest,  is  a  powerful  proof  of 
his  intrepidity;  that  he  did  not  behead  them  at  once  is 
like  proof  of  the  fear  which  the  State  had  of  the  Church. 

When  old  and  feeble  and  miserably  afraid  of  death  and 
the  future,  Louis  released  these  prisoners  at  the  personal 
request  of  Pope  Sixtus  IV. 

The  king  struck  terror  into  the  feudal  barons,  also,  by 
making  war  upon  the  Duke  of  Nemours  and  the  Count  of 
Armagnac.  He  reduced  them  both  to  submission. 

His  long  arm  also  reached  across  into  England,  where 
he  supplied  the  Duke  of  Warwick  with  the  means  of 
overthrowing  Edward  IV. 

Having  prevailed  upon  the  Duke  of  Brittany  to  re- 
nounce all  foreign  alliances,  Louis  now  stood  at  the  head 
of  a  united  France,  and  he  determined  to  humble  the 
Duke  of  Burgundy. 

Putting  a  large  army  into  the  field,  Louis  seized  upon 


278  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

the  frontier  towns  of  the  duke,  catching  that  impetuous 
person  unawares. 

But  the  feudal  lords  of  France  dreaded  the  growing 
power  of  the  king,  and  they  soon  began  to  plot  against 
him.  They  realized  that  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  was  the 
last  of  the  great  feudal  chiefs,  and  that  if  the  crown 
reduced  him  to  subjection,  the  feudal  system  was  dead. 
A-D-  So  the  Duke  of  Brittany  and  the  Duke  of  Guienne, 
Louis'  brother,  and  the  constable  of  St.  Pol  conspired 
against  the  king.  Their  object  was  to  dethrone  Louis 
and  to  set  up  his  younger  brother,  Charles,  Duke  of 
Guienne,  who  was  a  weakling  they  hoped  to  be  able  to 
control. 

Thus  Louis  found  in  his  brother  his  most  dangerous 
foe. 

Around  this  brother  all  the  elements  of  opposition 
were  steadily  gathering.  Louis  made  Charles  flattering 
offers  for  peace,  but  they  were  rejected.  Charles  assem- 
bled an  army,  appointed  his  generals,  and  requested  the 
Pope  to  release  him  from  his  oath  of  allegiance  to  Louis. 
A.D.  Just  at  the  right  time  for  Louis,  Charles  died  of  poison, 
1472  and  the  abbot  of  St.  Jean  d'Angely  was  accused  of  the 
crime  of  poisoning  him.  King  Louis  suppressed  the 
documents  of  the  abbot's  trial,  and  there  is  no  proof 
either  against  the  abbot  or  the  king.  All  the  historian 
can  safely  say  is  that  no  death  was  ever  more  acceptable 
and  necessary  to  a  monarch  than  that  of  Charles  to  Louis. 

The  Duke  of  Burgundy  openly  proclaimed  that  the 
king  had  poisoned  his  brother,  but  of  proof  there  is 
none. 

This  death  upset  the  enemies  of  Louis.  It  destroyed 
their  rallying  point,  their  common  centre.  Duke  Charles, 


XVHI  LOUIS  THE  ELEVENTH  279 

it  is  true,  invaded  France  and  laid  about  him  in  his  usual 
furious  way,  but  he  accomplished  nothing  of  importance, 
was  repeatedly  repulsed  by  the  towns  he  besieged,  and  he 
soon  retired  to  his  own  country. 

The  Duke  of  Brittany,  after  suffering  repeated  defeats 
at  the  hands  of  the  king,  was  glad  to  make  peace. 

Soon  afterwards  Charles  the  Rash  also  accepted  a  truce, 
and  thus  the  great  conspiracy  ended.  Louis  had  com- 
pletely triumphed. 

Charles  the  Rash  was  the  last  of  the  knights,  the  last 
of  those  proud,  brave,  insolent,  violent,  and  magnificent 
feudal  lords  who  had  ruled  kings  and  people  during  the 
Middle  Ages.  Headstrong  and  obstinate,  he  rushed  upon 
danger  with  blind  impetuosity,  and  scorned  all  the  arts  of 
conciliation.  Had  he  been  half  so  shrewd  in  the  man- 
agement of  men  as  Louis  was,  he  would  not  only  have 
erected  his  duchy  into  a  kingdom,  but  would  have  been 
more  powerful  than  any  European  king.  His  dominions 
were  more  wealthy  and  populous  than  those  of  any 
neighbouring  monarch,  and  his  court  far  more  splendid. 
But  he  extended  his  conquests  imprudently,  arrayed  all 
the  surrounding  powers  against  him,  and  showed  no 
skill  in  dealing  with  the  danger  after  it  arose. 

Louis  formed  a  league  against  Charles,  and  the  duke    A.D. 
steadily   lost   ground   in   the   war   which   followed.     Ho    1474 
prevailed  upon  Edward  IV.,  who  was  again  the  king  of 
England,  to  invade  France,  but  Louis  bribed  the  king 
and  his  advisers,  and  the  expedition  came  to  naught. 

Louis  paid  the  English  king  75,000  crowns,  agreed  to    A.n. 
give  him  annually  50,000  more,  and  arranged  a  marriage    1475 
between  his  son  and  Edward's  daughter.     It  suited  Louis 
afterwards  to  break  this  agreement,  and  he  broke  it. 


280  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Charles  the  Rash  now  made  peace  with  Louis,  in  order 

to  give  his  undivided  attention  to  a  war  against  Lorraine 

and  the  Swiss.     He  reduced  Lorraine,  but  was  routed  by 

the  Swiss.     His  cruelty  in  murdering  the  inhabitants  of 

A.D.    the  little  town  of  Granson,  after  they  had  surrendered  to 

1 .17ft 

him  upon  the  promise  that  he  would  spare  their  lives,  so 
enraged  the  Swiss  that  the  nation  rose  against  him  as  one 
man.  They  drove  him  out  of  the  country  in  utter  rout, 
having  captured  his  artillery,  his  tent,  his  sword,  his 
ducal  seal,  his  diamonds,  and  his  collar  of  the  Golden 
Fleece.  Gathering  another  army,  Charles  renewed  the 
invasion,  and  was  defeated  with  immense  slaughter  at 
Morat. 

Charles  now  found  himself  almost  without  an  army. 
For  many  months  he  brooded  over  his  disgrace.  He 
could  neither  eat  nor  sleep.  Dumb  rage  and  despair 
took  possession  of  him.  At  last,  in  a  fatal  fit  of  rashness, 
A.D.  he  rushed  upon  his  enemies,  who  were  20,000  strong,  with 
1477  a  handful  of  men  (4000),  gave  battle  at  Nancy  in  a  blind- 
ing snow-storm,  was  hopelessly  defeated,  and  was  slain  by 
a  deaf  soldier  who  could  not  hear  his  call  for  quarter. 
Stripped  of  every  shred  of  clothing,  this  haughty  prince 
was  left  half  buried  in  the  mud.  On  the  day  after  the 
battle  the  duke's  body  was  recognized,  and  was  given  a 
stately  burial  by  his  enemies. 

From  the  loins  of  this  headlong  warrior  sprang  Charles 
V.  of  Germany,  who  in  after  years  was  to  fight  again  over 
these  territories,  and  was  to  bring  France  to  her  knees. 

Louis  was  now  secure.  He  had  found  France  divided 
into  almost  independent  provinces  under  feudal  chiefs  ; 
it  was  now  combined  under  a  centralized  government  of 
the  king.  It  was  strong  at  home  and  respected  abroad. 


xvin  LOUIS   THE   ELEVENTH  281 

While  the  reckless  Duke  of  Burgundy  had  been  dash- 
ing his  power  to  fragments,  his  wily  rival,  the  king  of 
France,  had  continued  to  destroy  powerful  domestic 
enemies. 

He  had  arrested  the  Duke  of  Alengon  in  1473,  and 
divided  his  property,  in  advance,  among  the  judges  who 
were  to  try  the  case ;  whereupon  these  judges,  with 
unanimity  and  promptness,  decided  that  the  duke  had 
forfeited  life  and  goods.  It  pleased  Louis  to  let  the 
duke  keep  his  life,  in  a  secure  prison,  and  to  let  the 
judges  keep  the  goods. 

The  Count  of  Armagnac  was  attacked  and  slain,  and  his 
domains  confiscated  to  the  crown  (1475). 

The  Duke  of  Nemours  was  arrested  (1477),  thrown  into 
an  iron  cage  in  the  Bastille,  .was  tortured  until  he  con- 
fessed his  treason,  was  tried  by  judges  to  whom  his 
property  had  already  been  given,  was  condemned,  and  was 
beheaded. 

A  brother  of  the  Duke  of  Armagnac  was  detected  in 
plots,  was  tried,  condemned,  and  beheaded. 

The  Count  of  St.  Pol,  who  had  in  turn  betrayed  every 
prince  who  had  trusted  him,  had  been  detected  by  all,  had 
lost  the  support  of  all,  and  had  been  executed  by  Louis. 

In  this  manner  the  king  moved  cautiously  but  persist- 
ently toward  his  great  purpose  of  striking  down  the 
feudal  aristocracy. 

The  death  of  Charles  the  Rash  had  left  the  Burgun-    A.D. 
dian  inheritance  to  his  daughter,  Mary.     Five  candidates   1477 
sought  her  hand,  and  her  lands,  in  matrimony.     One  of 
these  was  the  eight-year-old  son  of  King  Louis.     Mary 
chose   to   wed   Maximilian,   the   son   of  the   emperor   of 
Germany. 


282  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Louis,  however,  had  already  taken  possession  of  Bur- 
gundy and  Artois,  and  had  sent  his  troops  into  the 
Flemish  provinces  of  the  late  duke. 

A.I>.  Maximilian,  advancing  at  the  head  of  the  Flemings  to 
resist  the  French  invasion,  met  and  defeated  the  army  of 
Louis  at  Guinegate.  The  victory,  however,  was  not  fol- 
lowed up  ;  and,  by  a  treaty  made  soon  afterwards,  Louis, 
the  royal  robber,  was  allowed  to  keep  about  half  of  the 
Burgundian  possessions. 

In  this  conflict  between  Mary  and  Louis  were  sown  the 
seeds  of  those  wars  which  afterwards  cost  France  so  much 
blood  and  so  much  treasure. 

#*##**#** 

Eleven  provinces  were  added  to  the  royal  dominions  by 
Louis,  and  he  was  now  reaching  out  after  Brittany,  the 
sole  remaining  feudal  dukedom  which  preserved  its  in- 
dependence. In  1480  and  1481  the  provinces  of  Maine, 
Anjou,  and  Provence  fell  to  him  by  the  wills  of  King 
Rene  and  his  nephew  Charles,  who  had  held  those 
provinces. 

In  1482  Mary  of  Burgundy  died,  leaving  two  children, 
Philip  and  Margaret. 

The  Flemings  revolted  from  the  rule  of  Maximilian,  and 
turned  to  Louis  for  alliance  and  support.     They  sent  an 
embassy  to  him  to  propose  a  marriage  between  Margaret 
and  the   dauphin.     As  dower,  the  little  princess  would 
bring  to  her  husband  the  French  provinces  of  the  Bur- 
gundian inheritance.     Although  the  dauphin  was  under 
contract  to  wed  the  daughter  of  the  English  King,  Ed- 
ward IV.,  Louis  agreed  to  the  Flemish  proposals. 
A.D.        He  received  the  Flemish   ambassadors  at   his   palace- 
1482   fortress  of   Plessis-les-Tours.     He  had  shut  himself  up 


XTIII  LOUIS  THE   ELEVENTH  283 

in  this  dismal  dwelling,  and  was  spending  his  last  days 
in  loneliness,  distrust,  and  fear  of  death.  After  passing 
drawbridges  and  bastions,  the  envoys  found  themselves 
in  a  small  room,  dimly  lighted,  and  in  a  corner  of  the 
chamber  they  saw  an  old  man,  bent  double,  and  almost 
concealed  in  rich  furs.  It  was  Louix  XI.,  who  had  been 
struck  with  paralysis  the  year  before,  and  had  become 
more  cruel,  more  suspicious,  and  more  active  in  plots 
and  plans  than  ever. 

He  caused  the  Bible  to  be  brought  so  that  he  might 
swear  to  the  treaty.  "  If  I  swear  with  my  left  hand,  you 
must  excuse  it,"  said  the  king  to  the  envoys,  "  my  right 
is  a  little  weak."  But  upon  second  thought  it  occurred 
to  him  that  objection  might  afterwards  be  made  to  the 
treaty  on  that  account,  and  he  therefore  touched  the  book 
with  his  paralyzed  right  arm. 

This  was  the  last  important  alliance  made  by  Louis. 
He  was  only  sixty  years  old,  but  he  was  worn  out,  bald, 
bent,  and  paralyzed. 

As  his  feebleness  increased,  his  savage  temper  and  in- 
sane distrust  of  everybody  grew  worse.  Every  year  he 
added  to  the  defences  of  his  palace-fortress,  kept  four 
hundred  archers  on  duty  to  guard  it,  with  orders  to  shoot 
at  whoever  approached  it  at  night. 

Louis  had  more  than  doubled  the  taxes  of  the  people, 
and  they  hated  him  as  they  groaned  under  his  burdens. 
He  had  humbled  the  aristocracy  and  they  detested  him. 
Breathing  this  atmosphere  of  hostility,  the  king  trusted 
nobody,  and  while  enduring  the  horrors  of  constant  dread, 
he  inflicted  the  same  terrors  upon  his  children,  his  rela- 
tives, his  wisest  counsellors,  and  his  oldest  servants. 

Only  to  his  doctor  was  he  mild  and  submissive.      So 


284  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

great  was  Louis'  fear  of  death  that  he  cringed  to  his 
physician,  loaded  him  with  honours  and  rewards,  and 
abjectly  endured  the  insolence  with  which  the  doctor 
treated  him. 

Hearing  of  a  holy  man  who  lived  at  Naples,  Louis  pre- 
vailed upon  the  king  of  Naples  to  send  him  this  holy 
man,  St.  Francis  de  Paul ;  and  the  French  king  would 
kneel  at  his  feet,  and  pray  this  saint  to  prolong  his  life. 
Not  content  with  this,  to  lengthen  his  days,  Louis  pro- 
cured relics,  bones  of  dead  saints,  holy  oil  from  Rheims, 
everything  which  superstition  and  terror  could  suggest, 

Having  been  bluntly  told  that  death  was  inevitable, 
Louis  no  longer  tried  to  escape  it.  He  gave  minute 
directions  as  to  his  burial,  took  wise  precautions  to 
insure  the  quiet  succession  of  his  son,  expressed  pity 
for  the  condition  of  his  people,  advised  the  dauphin 
against  war,  and  died  August  30,  1483. 

"  Never  did  I  see  him  free  from  care,"  writes  Comines, 
his  counsellor  and  historian.  His  whole  life  was  devoted 
to  labour,  to  trial,  to  perils,  to  dark  intrigues,  to  ruthless 
ambition,  to  perfidy  and  crime. 

But  he  did  a  great  work.  He  was  one  of  the  few  men 
who  left  the  world  different  from  what  he  found  it. 

To  raise  up  a  power  to  aid  him  in  holding  the  nobles 
in  check,  he  gave  local  self-government  to  many  towns, 
and  received  their  representatives  in  the  national  States 
General.  He  encouraged  commerce,  mining,  and  manu- 
factures. The  first  silk  manufactories  were  established 
in  France  in  his  reign.  He  encouraged  the  newly  dis- 
covered art  of  printing,  and  established  several  printing- 
presses. 

He  encouraged  medicine,  and  it  was  during  his  reign 


XVHI  LOUIS  THE   ELEVENTH  285 

that  the  first  surgical  operation  for  stone  was  tried.  The 
experiment  was  made  upon  a  condemned  criminal,  was 
successful,  and  the  man  was  pardoned. 

He  established  the  post-office,  first  for  his  own  use, 
afterwards  for  the  public.  As  this  was  the  origin  of  our 
modern  post-office  system,  it  is  worth  while  to  mention 
that  the  royal  decree  establishing  it  bears  date  June  19, 
1464. 

He  founded  or  reorganized  the  universities  of  Valence, 
Bourges,  and  Besan§on,  besides  several  schools  of  law  and 
medicine. 

He  had  formed  the  design  of  a  uniform  system  of  laws 
for  France,  and  a  uniform  system  of  weights  and  meas- 
ures. He  had  already  gathered  together  the  laws  of 
several  other  nations  and  put  wise  men  to  studying  them 
for  the  purpose  of  replacing  the  various  and  conflicting 
local  customs  which  prevailed  in  the  several  provinces  of 
France  with  one  regular  and  uniform  system.  Death  cut 
him  down  before  he  could  finish  this  important  work,  and 
it  was  not  till  Napoleon's  iron  hand  was  at  the  French 
helm  that  the  statesmanly  design  of  Louis  XI.  was  carried 
out. 

Charlemagne  had  battled  with  barbarism,  in  behalf  of 
Christianity  and  civilization.  With  giant  steps  he  had 
trod  back  and  forth  from  Spain  to  Germany  and  from 
Germany  to  Spain,  battling,  always  battling,  against 
Mohammedanism  on  the  one  side  and  paganism  on  the 
other.  With  colossal  energy  he  beat  down  savagery, 
created  the  form  and  order  of  regular  administration, 
and  introduced  religious  authority  to  develop  moral 
ideas  and  moral  standards  in  the  place  of  the  brute 
force  of  barbarism. 


286  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Dying  before  his  work  was  completely  done,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  great  political  body  he  had  created  fell  apart, 
and  feudalism  arose  and  ruled. 

The  French  kings  sank  into  nothingness  ;  they  were 
only  feudal  chiefs  among  feudal  chiefs.  Nominally  their 
position  was  that  of  federal  head  of  a  number  of  federal 
states,  each  of  which  had  its  own  ruler,  its  laws,  its  courts, 
its  right  to  coin  money,  its  right  to  make  war  and  peace, 
and  its  exemption  from  federal  taxation. 

The  feudal  system  was  a  confederation,  like  that  of  the 
United  States,  for  instance,  but  the  greater  power  was  in 
the  separate  states  composing  the  federation.  The  cen- 
tral government  had  no  right  to  tax  the  citizens  of  the 
different  states,  the  royal  laws  did  not  bind  the  separate 
states  except  by  the  consent  of  the  local  ruler,  and  the 
royal  courts  had  no  jurisdiction  over  cases  arising  in  the 
various  states. 

It  was  this  system  which  had  reduced  the  French  kings 
to  insignificance  ;  and  it  was  this  system  which  had  fed 
the  pride  of  the  feudal  chiefs  of  the  provinces  until  their 
tyranny  became  as  intolerable  to  the  common  people  as  to 
the  king. 

We  have  shown  how  the  French  kings  began,  cau- 
tiously, to  fall  back  upon  the  masses  of  the  people,  and 
to  make  common  cause  with  them  against  the  feudal 
lords.  We  have  seen  how  Philip  the  Fair  encouraged  the 
towns  to  make  a  stand  against  the  castles,  and  how  the 
abolition  of  slavery,  the  creation  of  a  standing  army, 
the  grant  of  a  perpetual  tax,  the  extension  of  the  royal 
laws  into  the  feudal  provinces,  and  the  giving  of  the  right 
of  appeal  from  the  feudal  courts  to  the  royal  courts, 
gradually  sapped  the  strength  of  the  feudal  system.  The 


xvni  LOUIS   THE   ELEVENTH  287 

power  left  the  states  of  the  federation  and  became  cen- 
tralized in  the  general  government. 

This  revolution  required  much  time,  much  patient 
management,  much  war,  much  treachery  and  crime. 
When  Louis  XI.  ascended  the  throne,  the  feudal  chiefs 
expected  him  to  reverse  the  royal  policy  and  return  to 
feudalism.  On  the  contrary,  the  one  great  aim  of  his 
reign  was  to  centralize  the  royal  power,  and  to  crush  the 
feudal  spirit  into  complete  submission  to  the  throne. 
His  one  dream  was  of  a  regenerated  France,  —  not  a 
France  torn  into  warring  fragments,  bleeding  from  civil 
war  within  and  from  the  invasion  of  English  kings  and 
Burgundian  nobles  without ;  but  a  France  united  and 
powerful,  obeyed  at  home  and  respected  abroad. 

To  accomplish  this  work  Louis  spared  himself  no  toil, 
no  rest,  no  crime.  To  serve  France,  he  could  wait,  could 
meekly  suffer  insult,  could  humbly  drain  the  cup  of 
humiliation.  Never  once,  so  far  as  we  can  find,  did  Louis 
have  a  personal  ambition.  If  ever  France  had  a  king 
who  thought  of  nothing  but  France,  Louis  was  he.  No 
dangers  could  unnerve  him,  no  difficulties  stay  him,  no 
defeat  stop  him.  His  retreat  was  but  a  preparation  for 
another  advance,  his  submission  was  but  a  crouching  for 
a  more  dangerous  spring. 

Year  in  and  year  out,  this  ugly,  lean,  careworn  man 
stalked  about,  with  his  long  hair,  his  stooping  shoulders, 
his  spindle  shanks,  his  closely  pressed  lips,  his  shabby  old 
hat  garnished  with  leaden  images  of  the  Virgin  stuck  in 
the  band,  working  like  a  galley-slave  at  his  great  task  of 
creating  modern  France.  Everywhere  the  king  is  master 
and  must  be  obeyed  —  everywhere!  If  my  lord  of  the 
castle  defies  the  king,  off  goes  his  head.  If  the  citizen  of 


288  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

the  town  refuses  to  pay  the  royal  tax,  up  goes  the  gibbet. 
Let  the  proudest  noble  in  the  realm  disobey  the  king,  and 
the  day  will  come  when  his  life  shall  answer  for  it;  let 
the  humblest  hind  in  France  refuse  obedience,  and  he  will 
be  sewed  up  in  a  sack  and  tossed  into  the  river. 

He  will  laugh  and  talk  with  you  in  the  pleasantest 
fashion  in  the  world,  will  Louis;  and  he  will  then  feed 
fishes  with  you  if  you  dare  to  cross  his  will. 

Dress  counted  for  nothing  with  Louis;  often  he  was 
clad  more  shabbily  than  any  man  in  his  train. 

Birth  and  blood  went  for  nothing  with  Louis. 

"  Can  he  do  my  work  ?  "  was  the  supreme  test  to  which 
he  put  all  men.  Through  all  his  struggles,  and  to  the  end 
of  his  life,  the  men  he  most  trusted  were  those  of  humble 
birth. 

Very  superstitious  was  Louis,  so  much  so  that  he 
would  never  wear  again  the  clothes  he  might  have  on 
when  he  received  any  piece  of  bad  news.  You  might 
swear  him  upon  the  Word  of  God,  and  pledge  him  in  the 
name  of  all  the  saints,  —  and  he  would  wriggle  forth 
from  the  contract  at  his  earliest  convenience;  but  if  you 
swore  him  by  St.  Lo,  he  would  stick. 

Historians  have  denied  that  Louis  was  a  great  man. 
With  one  accord  they  decry  him  as  a  beast  unclean. 
I  judge  this  monarch  by  the  work  he  did,  and  I  dare  to 
say  that  I  find  him  great. 

Never  once  do  I  find  him  destroying  the  faithful  ser- 
vants of  France.  The  men  he  crushes  are  those  who 
plotted  against  France  while  eating  her  bread  and  wear- 
ing her  livery. 

He  strikes  down  the  mad  Duke  of  Burgundy,  but 
patriotism  demands  it.  Charles  has  invited  the  English 


xvin  LOUIS  THE  ELEVENTH  289 

back  into  France  and  is  thus  a  traitor  to  his  king  and  his 
country. 

Louis  may  have  poisoned  his  brother  ;  "  no  one  thought 
him  incapable  of  it."  But  that  brother  had  proven  false 
to  France,  and  was  a  helpless  tool  in  the  hands  of  the 
feudal  lords  who  wished  to  reestablish  their  own  tyranny 
over  the  king  and  over  the  people. 

A  bad  man,  say  the  historians,  was  Louis.  So  he  was. 
His  methods  were  underhand,  his  temper  cruel,  his  dispo- 
sition naturally  full  of  guile  and  treachery ;  but  it  required, 
perhaps,  just  such  a  combination  of  qualities  as  Louis 
possessed  to  do  the  work  he  was  fated  to  do. 

Consider  France  as  he  left  it !  The  printing-presses 
he  established  are  at  work,  clumsily  weaving  the  web 
of  a  new  civilization.  The  schools  are  making  headway, 
under  royal  encouragement.  Commerce  is  spreading 
itself  into  other  lands,  and  has  already  become  well  estab- 
lished in  far  Egypt.  Post-horses  stand,  ready  saddled, 
at  regular  intervals  of  four  leagues  on  the  highways,  to 
gallop  forward  with  letters.  The  common  people  have 
been  called  into  the  councils  of  the  king,  the  towns  elect 
their  own  magistrates  and  appoint  the  officers  of  their 
own  guard.  One  hundred  and  ninety  of  their  delegates 
go  to  the  national  congress  when  the  king  summons  the 
States  General.  At  home  his  power  is  supreme  ;  abroad 
his  alliance  is  courted,  his  enmity  feared. 

To  admit  that  Louis  did  all  this  in  a  short  reign  of 
twenty -one  years,  and  yet  deny  him  greatness,  seems  to 
me  the  folly  of  mere  prejudice. 

He  died  praying.  "  My  Lady  of  Embrun,  my  good  mis- 
tress, have  mercy  on  me,"  were  his  last  words  as  he  sank 
into  the  great  unknown. 


CHAPTER   XIX 

ANNE   OF   FRANCE  AND   CHAKLES  THE  EIGHTH 

A-D-  T  GUIS  XI.  left  three  children  surviving  him.  Six  days 
before  he  died  he  verbally  directed  that  the  guardian- 
ship of  his  son  and  successor  should  be  intrusted  to  his 
oldest  daughter,  "  Anne  of  France,"  of  whom  he  had  said, 
"  She  is  the  least  fool  of  all  women,  for  wise  one  there  is 
none."  She  much  resembled  her  father  in  coldness,  craft, 
persistence,  and  practical  sense.  Without  having  any 
strictly  legal  right  to  do  so  Anne  quietly  took  up  the  reins 
of  government,  and  during  the  eight  years  she  held  them 
fairly  earned  the  title  of  "Madame  the  Great." 

Her  brother,  the  young  king,  known  as  Charles  VIII. , 
was  only  thirteen  years  of  age  at  this  time,  and  was  men- 
tally and  physically  feeble.  His  father  had  kept  him  in 
ignorance  of  all  things  ;  it  was  said  that  he  could  not  even 
read,  and  although  he  was  by  law  capable  of  taking  the 
reins  of  government  at  fourteen  years  of  age,  his  pupilage 
continued  till  he  was  past  twenty-one.  The  other 
daughter  of  Louis  XL,  a  deformed  and  ugly  princess,  was 
married  to  Louis,  Duke  of  Orleans.  He  was  first  prince 
of  the  blood,  heir  presumptive  to  the  crown,  and  a  natural 
claimant  of  the  regency  which  Anne  had  usurped. 
Supported  by  other  members  of  the  royal  family,  he  dis- 
puted the  authority  of  Anne  and  became  the  leader  of  an 

290 


CHAP,  xix    ANNE  OF  FRANCE  AND  CHARLES  THE  EIGHTH  291 

aristocratic  reaction  against  the  system  of  Louis  XI., 
which  Anne  was  continuing.  She  endeavoured  to  placate 
the  nobles  by  granting  them  high  offices,  great  estates, 
and  lavish  pensions.  She  also  consented  to  disarm  the 
king  by  dismissing  the  six  thousand  Swiss  mercenaries 
whom  Louis  XI.  had  kept  in  his  pay.  All  alienations  of 
the  royal  domains  made  by  the  late  king  were  revoked. 
His  "  evil  counsellors "  were  seized,  tried,  and  punished. 
His  former  enemies  were  restored  and  rewarded.  Some 
traitors  whom  he  had  punished  were  rehabilitated,  and 
their  relatives  compensated  by  a  restitution  of  the  con- 
fiscated estates  of  the  condemned.  One-fourth  of  the 
land-tax  due  was  remitted,  exiles  were  recalled,  and  polit- 
ical prisoners  liberated.  But  the  princes  of  the  blood- 
royal  and  the  great  feudal  lords  were  bent  upon  recovering 
the  ground  they  had  lost  during  the  reign  of  Louis  XL, 
and,  finding  themselves  unable  to  oust  Anne  in  any  other 
way,  they  agitated  for  a  convocation  of  the  States  General.  A.D. 
This  was  a  demand  which  was  always  popular  with  the  1484 
great  majority  of  the  French  people,  and,  yielding  to  the 
public  sentiment  aroused  by  the  lords,  Anne  convoked 
the  States  General  of  1484. 

All  the  provinces  sent  deputies.  Each  order,  the 
clergy,  the  nobility,  and  the  commons,  sent  its  own  repre- 
sentatives, elected  in  local  assemblies,  in  which  even  the 
peasants  took  part.  This  was  the  first  time  that  the 
peasants  had  been  admitted  to  the  privilege  of  voting  for 
national  representatives. 

In  most  towns  the  commons  united  with  the  nobles  and 
the  clergy  in  choosing  delegates.  No  conflict  between 
the  three  orders  appeared. 

The  delegates,  to  the  number  of  284,  assembled  in  the 


292  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

great  hall  of  the  archbishop's  palace,  at  Tours,  January 
15,  1484. 

The  young  king,  seated  upon  the  throne,  presided  ;  at 
his  right  hand  sat  the  constable,  at  his  left  the  chancel- 
lor. Between  these  high  officers  and  the  throne  stood 
four  great  nobles;  immediately  in  the  rear  sat  two  cardi- 
nals, six  ecclesiastical  peers,  and  six  princes  of  the  blood- 
royal.  Behind  these  stood  some  twenty  lay  lords.  In 
front  of  the  king,  on  a  lower  level,  the  remaining  deputies 
were  seated  upon  two  semicircular  benches,  the  nobles 
and  clergy  on  the  front  bench,  the  commons  on  the  rear 
one. 

The  chancellor  harangued  the  assembly  at  length,  ex- 
pressing the  king's  desire  to  become  better  acquainted 
with  his  people,  and  assuring  the  deputies  of  the  royal 
desire  to  live  economically,  rule  justly,  and  to  reform 
existing  abuses.  He  said  that  the  king  intended  to  de- 
fray all  his  personal  expenses  out  of  the  revenues  of  the 
royal  domains,  and  to  exact  tribute  from  the  people  for 
public  expenses  only. 

The  monstrous  theory  that  all  the  property  in  France 
was  the  private  estate  of  the  king,  to  be  spent  as  the 
monarch  might  see  fit,  had  not  yet  come  into  existence. 
The  deputies  formed  themselves  into  six  committees,  cor- 
responding to  the  six  great  provinces  of  France.  There 
was  no  division  of  the  members  into  separate  orders. 
They  acted  together,  chose  a  common  spokesman,  and 
developed  no  spirit  of  strife  as  between  the  three  orders. 
The  nobles  had  complaints  to  make  against  the  encroach- 
ment of  the  crown,  but  none  against  clergy  or  commons. 
The  clergy  demanded  the  freedom  of  the  French  Church 
from  royal  and  papal  aggressions,  but  made  no  attack 


xix        ANNE  OF  FRANCE  AND  CHARLES  THE  EIGHTH         293 

upon  nobles  or  commons.  The  commons  arraigned  the 
crown  for  levying  arbitrary  taxes,  the  increase  of  public 
burdens,  the  quartering  of  troops  in  private  houses,  and 
the  exclusion  of  the  people  from  any  share  in  govern- 
ments ;  but  the  commons  brought  no  accusations  against 
the  clergy  or  the  nobility. 

In  this  States  General  of  1484  the  great  principles  of 
popular  government  were  clearly  and  forcibly  expressed. 
It  is  even  more  remarkable  that  the  most  prominent 
spokesmen  in  their  favour  were  John  Masselin,  a  priest, 
and  Philip  de  la  Roche,  a  noble. 

This  Burgundian  peer,  deputy  for  the  nobility  of  Bur- 
gundy, spoke  as  boldly  for  republicanism  as  Count 
Mirabeau  did  three  centuries  later,  —  neither  of  them, 
however,  being  a  republican,  or  favouring  any  policy 
inconsistent  with  the  existence  of  the  monarchy. 

"I  should  like,"  said  De  la  Roche,  addressing  the 
assembly,  "to  see  you  quite  convinced  that  the  govern- 
ment of  the  State  is  the  people's  affair.  Since  you  are 
deputies,  why  are  you  afraid  to  conclude  that  you  have 
been  summoned  to  direct  by  your  counsels  the  common- 
wealth during  the  king's  minority  ?  Why  tremble  at  the 
idea  of  taking  in  hand  the  regulation,  arrangement,  and 
nomination  of  the  council  of  the  crown?  You  are  here  to 
say  and  to  advise  freely  that  which  you  believe  to  be  use- 
ful to  the  realm.  What  is  the  obstacle  that  prevents  you 
from  accomplishing  so  excellent  a  work?  I  find  none, 
unless  it  be  your  cowardice. 

"Come,  then,  most  illustrious  lords,  have  confidence  in 
yourselves,  have  hope,  have  courage,  and  let  not  the 
liberty  of  the  estates  which  your  ancestors  defended  so 
jealously  be  dangered  by  reason  of  your  f aint-heartedness. " 


294  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Masselin  followed  in  similar  strains.  The  doctrine 
that  in  the  people  themselves  lay  the  power  of  taxation 
was  distinctly  proclaimed,  and  the  right  of  the  crown  to 
levy  taxes  was  challenged  and  denied. 

In  the  paper  which  set  forth  the  grievances  of  the 
people  against  the  government,  it  was  declared  that  the 
citizens  of  several  provinces  in  France  had  fled  to  Brit- 
tany and  to  England  to  escape  the  ruinous  taxation  which 
beggared  them.  "  Others  [so  the  paper  read]  have  per- 
ished of  hunger,  and  others,  in  their  despair,  have  killed 
their  wives  and  children,  and  afterwards  themselves  !  " 

Bad  government  trod  the  lives  out  of  the  people  then, 
it  treads  the  lives  out  of  them  now ;  the  method  has 
changed,  but  the  spirit  has  not  changed,  nor  the  effects. 

The  paper  from  which  we  have  already  quoted  pro- 
ceeds to  say :  — 

"  Many  whose  cattle  have  been  seized  have  harnessed 
themselves  and  their  children  to  the  plough ;  and  many,  to 
avoid  seizure  of  their  oxen,  dare  only  to  plough  at  night." 

In  the  provinces  of  Anjou  and  Maine  and  in  the  district 
of  Chartres,  the  deputies  declared  that  more  than  500 
persons  had  been  put  to  death  within  the  last  five  years 
on  the  pretext  that  they  had  tried  to  evade  the  salt-tax. 
No  delegate  denied  the  truth  of  these  recitals. 

Indeed,  one  theologian,  whose  name  is  not  given,  fiercely 
denounced  the  taxes,  which  he  called  blackmail,  declared 
that  they  were  crushing  the  people,  and  called  down  the 
curse  of  God  upon  those  who  had  caused  such  woes. 

With  this  determined  spirit  abroad,  it  may  seem  strange 
that  the  States  General  of  1484  accomplished  nothing. 
The  explanation  is  that  the  great  lords  merely  sought  to 
check  the  king's  encroachment  upon  themselves ;  they 


xix         ANNE  OF  FRANCE  AND  CHARLES  THE  EIGHTH         295 

had  no  intention  of  lightening  the  burdens  of  the  com- 
mons. That  the  commons  must  be  kept  down  was  a 
principle  of  action  upon  which  the  higher  nobles  of  both 
Church  and  State  were  cordially  united. 

When  the  delegates  who  favoured  reform  voted  a  tax 
of  1,200,000  livres,  and  for  two  years  only,  and  demanded 
the  convocation  of  the  States  General  at  the  expiration  of 
that  term,  all  those  who  depended  on  the  public  crib  for 
fodder  became  profoundly  alarmed.  They  realized  at 
once  that  the  purse-strings  would  pass  from  the  hands  of 
the  king,  and  that  the  taxes  might  be  lessened  from  year 
to  year.  In  that  event,  the  king  could  no  longer  grant 
pensions  and  donations,  pay  extravagant  salaries,  or 
establish  luxurious  sinecures.  Consequently  the  entire 
office-holding  brotherhood,  and  all  they  who  basked  lazily 
in  the  sunshine  of  royal  favour,  broke  forth  into  loud 
lamentations. 

"  We  see  quite  well  how  it  is,"  said  these  great  lords, 
speaking,  with  the  customary  contempt,  to  the  reformers ; 
"  you  wish  to  curtail  the  king's  power,  to  pare  his  nails  to 
the  quick ;  you  forbid  the  subjects  to  pay  as  much  as  the 
wants  of  the  State  require ;  are  the  people  no  longer  sub- 
jects ?  are  they  masters  ?  " 

"  I  know  the  rascals,"  said  the  Duke  of  Bourbon,  allud- 
ing to  the  masses  of  the  French  people  ;  "  if  they  are  not 
kept  down  by  overweighting  them,  they  will  soon  be- 
come insolent ;  for  my  part,  I  consider  taxation  as  the 
surest  way  to  hold  them  in." 

Thus  the  antagonistic  forces  drew  the  lines  as  sharply 
then  as  they  do  now,  and  as  they  have  ever  done  in  all 
human  governments.  On  the  one  hand  is  the  spirit  of 
caste,  of  privilege,  of  pride,  whose  innermost  creed  is,  "  I 


296  THE  STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

am  better  than  thou ;  I  will  rule  over  thee ;  thou  shalt 
serve  me,  and  obey  me,  and  pay  tribute  to  me." 

When  the  patriotic  priest,  some  poor  curate  of  the 
rural  districts,  no  doubt,  had  called  down  God's  curse 
upon  those  who  crushed  the  people  with  the  load  of  unjust 
taxes,  murmurs  had  been  heard  in  the  assembly.  The 
brave  speaker  was  rebuked  on  every  hand  and  was  finally 
silenced. 

But  when  the  Duke  of  Bourbon,  a  scion  of  the  royal 
family,  insolently  proclaimed  the  doctrine  that  the  masses 
must  be  kept  down,  and  that  taxation  was  the  best  method 
for  doing  it,  his  own  class  approved  his  speech  and  endorsed 
his  policy. 

The  feudal  lords  understood  quite  well  that  the  ancient 
methods  of  robbing  the  masses  were  out  of  date.  They 
realized  that  bands  of  armed  baronial  marauders  could  no 
longer  stop  the  merchant  upon  the  highway  and  rob  him, 
could  no  longer  attack  the  town  and  hold  it  to  ransom, 
could  no  longer  swoop  down  upon  hamlets  and  homes 
and  drive  away  the  cattle. 

These  feudal  lords,  being  wise  in  their  generation,  saw 
that  other  means  must  be  adopted,  if  the  privileged  few 
were  to  continue  to  live  at  the  expense  of  the  many. 

The  Duke  of  Bourbon  was  right  when  he  said  that 
taxation  was  the  surest  device  that  could  be  adopted,  and 
he  was  right  in  contending  that  the  king  should  continue 
to  hold  the  power  to  levy  and  collect  taxes  at  his  pleasure. 

Taxation,  after  all,  is  confiscation.  When  the  govern- 
ment takes  no  more  than  its  just  dues,  and  exacts  these 
from  all  classes  alike,  the  evil  is  a  necessary  evil,  the 
sacrifice  a  necessary  sacrifice  ;  for  it  is  right  that  the 
government  should  live  at  the  public  expense. 


xix        ANNE  OF  FRANCE  AND  CHARLES  THE  EIGHTH         297 

But  when  the  government  confiscates  more  than  it 
needs,  this  is  tyranny  ;  it  is  robbery  under  legal  forms. 
If  the  government,  in  exacting  this  excessive  tribute, 
should  exempt  certain  persons  and  certain  classes  from 
payment,  then  the  wrong  becomes  doubly  intolerable  to 
those  who  have  all  to  pay.  These  wretched  victims  of 
an  unjust  system  would  not  only  have  to  bear  the  bur- 
dens of  their  own  excessive  taxes,  but  would  also  have  to 
pay  the  shares  of  the  exempted.  To  make  matters  still 
worse,  those  who  are  exempted'  are  those  who  are  ablest 
to  pay.  Now,  let  the  wrong  go  one  step  further  ;  let  the 
privileged  be  salaried,  pensioned,  and  sinecured,  out  of 
the  tribute  wrung  from  the  unprivileged,  and  we  have  a 
government  which  will  become  as  rotten,  as  cruel,  as  vi- 
cious, and  as  intolerable,  as  any  that  ever  existed  in  the 
days  of  paganism. 

This  was  precisely  what  Bourbon  was  driving  at,  pre- 
cisely what  Richelieu  achieved,  precisely  what  Louis  XIV. 
enjoyed,  precisely  what  went  to  pieces  under  Louis  XVI., 
and  precisely  what  now  exists  in  all  Christian  lands.  The 
form  has  changed,  the  methods  have  changed,  but  the 
spirit  of  privilege  has  not  changed. 

General  conditions  have  immensely  improved,  but  among 
the  lower  orders  of  our  own  time  scenes  of  squalor,  of 
ignorance,  of  suffering,  constantly  recur  which  equal  in 
horror  anything  known  of  ancient  days. 

The  States  General  of  1484  was  in  advance  of  the  age. 
No  political  education  had  taken  place  among  the  masses, 
and  there  was  no  organization  among  the  advocates  of 
reform.  The  higher  nobles  stood  together  shoulder  to 
shoulder,  the  higher  clergy  were  likewise  united,  and 
all  three  of  the  orders  were  loyally  devoted  to  the  crown. 


298  THE   STORY  OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

The  princes  of  the  blood-royal  were  quite  ready  to  agi- 
tate for  reforms  which  would  limit  the  power  of  the  crown 
in  their  own  favour,  and  to  the  restoration  of  their  own 
powers  and  privileges.  They  were  even  willing  to  re- 
mind the  king  that  the  crown  had  been  formerly  elective, 
but  elective  by  the  votes  of  the  feudal  lords.  They 
clamoured  against  royal  imposition  of  taxes,  because  this 
rendered  the  king  independent  of  the  old  feudal  aids. 
They  demanded  the  dismissal  of  the  hired  troops,  because 
this  army  secured  the  royal  authority  against  feudal 
insubordination. 

But  when  the  peers  of  the  realm  realized  that  the  spirit 
of  reform  was  about  to  escape  their  control,  and  was 
threatening  to  take  an  opposite  direction,  they  suddenly 
ceased  to  be  reformers. 

The  States  General  thus  became  powerless.  It  could 
formally  declare  itself  against  all  existing  abuses,  demand 
sweeping  reforms,  and  establish  the  principles  of  a  limited 
constitutional  monarchy,  but  all  this  was  on  paper  ;  no 
guarantees  could  be  secured. 

The  king  made  the  most  soothing  promises,  in  a  general 
way ;  but  his  advisers  were  determined  to  make  no  changes, 
and  were  determined  to  get  rid  of  the  troublesome 
deputies  at  the  earliest  possible  moment. 

The  courtiers  set  themselves  to  work  among  the  dep- 
uties, bribing  some,  giving  offices  to  some,  persuading 
some,  intimidating  some,  and  sowing  the  seeds  of  discord 
among  the  representatives  of  the  different  provinces. 
Wrangles  about  the  apportionment  of  the  taxes  were 
eagerly  and  adroitly  fomented  ;  and  a  bitter  feud  arose 
between  the  nobles  and  clergy  on  the  one  side,  and  the 
commons  on  the  other,  as  to  the  pay  of  the  deputies  them- 


xix        ANNE  OF  FRANCE  AND  CHARLES  THE  EIGHTH         299 

selves.  The  nobles  and  the  clergy  contended  that  the 
commons  should  bear  the  entire  expenses  of  the  assembly  ; 
the  commons,  led  on  by  demagogues,  doubtless,  claimed 
that  the  expense  of  their  meeting  should  be  borne  by  the 
three  orders  equally.  After  much  squabbling,  the  com- 
mons prevailed. 

But  the  deputies  had  now  been  away  from  home  a  long 
while,  and  they  were  growing  tired.  Their  situation  was 
not  pleasant.  They  had  quarrelled  among  themselves 
and  split  into  factions.  The  royal  party  was  compact, 
was  sure  of  its  purpose,  had  many  resources,  and  was  in 
position  to  use  them.  The  reformers  were  divided ;  were 
not  agreed  upon  a  definite  plan  ;  were  separated  from  their 
local  supporters,  their  families,  friends,  and  constituents  ; 
were  subjected  to  the  alternate  frowns  and  blandishments 
of  the  court,  and  to  the  discouragement  of  seeing  this  or 
that  patriot  accept  office  or  pension  and  become  a  royalist 
of  the  zealous,  renegade  type. 

So  great  was  the  number  of  the  deputies  corrupted  and 
browbeaten  that  the  others  lost  heart.  On  March  12 
the  suave  bishop  of  Coutances  suggested  that  the  work 
of  reform  could  be  carried  out  by  a  special  committee  ap- 
pointed by  the  delegates  of  each  province,  and  that,  there- 
fore, it  was  not  necessary  for  the  assembly  itself  to  remain 
in  session  longer.  Casually  and  incidentally,  he  also  re- 
marked that  the  king  had  decided  that  the  pay  of  the 
delegates  should  stop  on  March  14. 

These  dismal  tidings,  naturally  depressing  to  the  home- 
sick delegates,  sorely  perplexed  them  ;  and  when,  on 
March  14,  they  went  into  the  hall  of  meeting  and  found  it 
dismantled,  —  stripped  of  benches,  carpet,  curtains,  tables, 
and  all  other  paraphernalia  necessary  to  deliberative  com- 


300  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

fort,  —  they  were  so  completely  demoralized  that  they 
hastily  disbanded.  It  is  true  that  they  appointed  the 
committee  which  the  bishop  of  Coutances  had  suggested, 
but  the  court  party,  which  had  so  easily  gotten  rid  of  the 
States  General,  had  even  less  difficulty  in  getting  rid  of 
the  committee. 

None  of  the  reforms  demanded  and  promised  were 
granted  ;  and  the  government  calmly  settled  back  to  the 
policy  of  Louis  XI.  A  Council  of  State  had  been  consti- 
tuted of  which  the  Duke  of  Orleans  was  president.  Thus 
he  was  nominally  at  the  head  of  the  government.  In  fact, 
however,  Anne  was  the  sovereign,  as  by  her  influence  over 
her  brother,  the  king,  she  caused  him  to  preside  over  the 
Council,  displacing  Orleans,  and  directing  the  affairs  of 
State  as  she  advised. 

A.D.  Finding  himself  reduced  to  a  nullity  in  this  manner, 
i486  Orleans  began  to  conspire  against  the  government.  The 
duke  himself  was  not  a  formidable  person.  There  was  a 
superficial  showiness  about  him  which  made  him  a  brill- 
iant figure  at  court  ;  he  was  gay  and  gallant,  liberal  and 
generous  ;  good  at  a  tournament  and  good  at  a  ball ; 
genial  with  men  and  a  rake  among  women. 

But  his  intrigues  against  the  government  were  danger- 
ous because  of  the  stronger  men  who  made  use  of  him, 
men  like  Dunois,  Bourbon,  Comines,  and  Orange.  Anne 
became  uneasy  on  account  of  the  plots  against  her,  and 
sent  troops  to  arrest  Orleans.  He  escaped,  however,  and 
took  refuge  in  Brittany. 
A.I>.  This  province  was  the  sole  remaining  independent 

1  ^ftA 

'  principality  of  the  old  feudal  France.  Its  duke,  Francis 
II.,  espoused  the  cause  of  Orleans,  as  did  Maximilian 
of  Germany  and  Richard  III.  of  England. 


xix        ANNE  OF  FRANCE  AND  CHARLES  THE  EIGHTH         301 

Anne  was  equal  to  the  crisis.  She  kept  Richard  III. 
at  home  by  assisting  Henry  of  Richmond  to  cross  over 
the  Channel  and  claim  the  crown.  Richmond's  army  met 
Richard  at  Bosworth,  defeated  and  slew  him,  and  Rich- 
mond became  king  of  England  under  the  name  of  Henry 
VII.  He  repaid  his  debt  to  France,  some  years  later,  by 
a  peculiarly  cold-blooded  piece  of  ingratitude,  as  we  shall 
see  in  due  time.  Maximilian  was  kept  busy  with  his 
own  affairs  by  an  insurrection  among  the  Flemings,  his 
subjects,  which  Anne  skilfully  aided  and  abetted. 

As  to  the  Duke  of  Brittany,  he  was  reduced  to  help- 
lessness by  the  alliances  which  Anne  contracted  with  his 
rebellious  nobles. 

The  Duke  of  Orleans  was  captured,  carried  back  to 
Court,  and  released  upon  his  promise  to  intrigue  no  more 
against  the  government. 

In  1488,  Maximilian,  having  been  chosen  emperor  of 
Germany,  resolved  to  break  the  Treaty  of  Arras,  which 
was  distasteful  to  him ;  and  the  league  of  the  princes 
against  Anne  was  renewed. 

Again  she  triumphed.     Putting  the  young  king  at  the    A.D. 
head  of  his  troops  she  carried  war  into  the  south,  took    ] 
Guienne  from  the  Count  of  Comines,  and  checked  Maxi- 
milian in  Artois.     Everywhere  the  citizens  of  the  middle 
class  gave  hearty  aid  to  the  king  against  the  nobles. 

Having  quieted  the  south,   Anne  directed  her  forces 
into  Brittany.     La  Tremouille,  the  French  commander, 
entered  the  province  in  April,  1488.     After  taking  several    A.D. 
towns  he  met  the  combined  army   of   the   confederated   1488 
princes  at  St.  Aubin  du  Cormier,  and  routed  it.    The  Duke 
at  Orleans,  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and  many  French  nobles 
were  captured  ;  and  the  ruin  of  the  cause  was  complete. 


302  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

La  Tremouille  was  a  very  able  captain,  and  was  not  more 
brutal,  perhaps,  than  other  professional  soldiers  of  his  own 
era.  And  this  is  what  he  did  with  his  noble  prisoners  :  — 

He  spread  a  feast  for  them  and  invited  them  to  his 
table.  The  invitation  was  a  command,  and  they  came. 
Tremouille  sat  down  with  his  guests,  and  did  the  honours 
of  his  board.  Bread  he  broke  with  them,  salt  he  tasted 
with  them,  wine  he  drank  with  them.  The  banquet  went 
on,  as  most  banquets  do,  and  there  were  jests  and  laughter, 
cordial  exchange  of  courtesies,  and  many  a  pleasant  word 
on  congenial  topics,  past  and  present,  many  a  light  refer- 
ence to  joyous  days  to  come. 

At  length  the  feast  drew  to  its  end.  Suddenly  two 
black-gowned  priests  entered  the  banquet-hall.  The 
guests  were  stupefied,  were  dumb  with  dread  forebod- 
ings. A  hush  fell  upon  them  all.  Tremouille  arose,  and 
facing  the  trembling  prisoners,  said  :  — 

"  Princes,  I  refer  your  sentence  to  the  king ;  but  as  for 
you,  chevaliers,  you  who  have  broken  faith  and  violated 
your  knightly  vow,  you  must  pay  for  your  crime  with 
your  heads.  If  you  have  any  sins  to  confess,  here  are 
monks  ready  to  receive  your  confessions." 

The  nobles  were  paralyzed  with  terror,  groans  re- 
sounded through  the  hall,  the  knights  fell  at  the  knees  of 
the  princes,  begging  intercession,  pleading  for  life,  life  ! 
The  princes,  who  had  led  the  lesser  lords  into  their  treason, 
could  say  nothing,  could  do  nothing.  They  were  horror- 
stricken. 

Standing  grimly  inexorable  among  the  guests  he  had  so 
sumptuously  feasted,  Tremouille  ordered  in  his  guards, 
had  the  struggling  victims  dragged  from  the  hall,  and 
murdered  in  the  courtyard. 


xix        ANNE  OF  FRANCE  AND  CHARLES  THE  EIGHTH         303 

The  princes  suffered  nothing  more  than  a  brief  confine- 
ment in  prison. 

The  Duke  of  Orleans  richly  deserved  a  traitor's  death. 
He  had  not  only  rebelled  against  the  king,  but  had 
leagued  himself  with  the  enemies  of  France,  and  had 
sought  to  bring  foreign  armies  against  her.  He  was  a 
prince  of  the  blood-royal,  however,  and  the  utmost  that 
Anne  dared  do  to  him  was  to  shut  him  up  in  the  great 
tower  of  Bourges,  where  at  night  he  was  locked  in  an 
iron  cage.  He  remained  there  only  three  years,  being 
released  at  the  persistent  entreaty  of  his  neglected  but 
affectionate  wife,  whose  devotion  he  was  to  reward  with 
cruel  ingratitude  later. 

By  the  victory  of  St.  Aubin,  Anne  was  freed  from  all 
peril,  and,  after  a  little  more  skirmishing  in  Brittany,  she 
made,  with  Duke  Francis,  the  Treaty  of  Sable,  August,    A.D. 
1488.     To  hold  the  duke  to  his  contract,  she  exacted  a    1488 
bond  of  200,000  golden  crowns  and  kept  possession  of 
four  of  the  Breton  fortresses. 

Three  weeks  after  the  Treaty  of  Sable,  Duke  Francis 
died,  leaving  as  his  heir  his  daughter  Anne. 

Her  marriage  became  a  question  of  international  impor- 
tance, and  her  hand  was  sought  by  numerous  suitors. 
She  had  been  promised  in  marriage,  when  only  four  years 
old,  to  the  son  of  Edward  IV.  of  England  —  he  who  was 
murdered  in  the  Tower  of  London  by  his  wicked  uncle, 
Richard  III. 

As  the  Breton  princess  grew  older,  the  aspirants  to  her 
hand  multiplied,  and  among  them  were  the  Sire  d'Albret, 
the  richest  lord  in  France,  the  Viscount  de  Rohan,  the 
Emperor  Maximilian,  and  King  Charles  VIII. 

Anne  of  France  realized  the  importance  of  uniting  this 


304  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

last  of  the  great  feudal  fiefs  to  the  crown.  She,  therefore, 
determined  to  exert  every  energy  to  secure  the  hand  of 
the  Princess  of  Brittany  for  her  brother. 

Charles  VIII.  was  not  exactly  the  man  to  arouse  vio- 
lent love  at  first  sight.  He  was  short,  and  badly  put 
together.  His  head  was  unnecessarily  big,  and  his  eyes 
were  of  the  kind  which,  among  the  plebeians,  causes  the 
owner  to  be  called  pop-eyed.  His  nose  was  thick  and 
large,  his  lips  coarse,  and  his  mouth  was  everlastingly 
open.  When  he  spoke,  his  words  came  slowly,  and  did 
not  amount  to  much  after  they  came.  There  were  ner- 
vous twitchings  about  his  face  which  were  disagreeable 
to  see. 

Altogether  his  Majesty  seems  to  have  been  the  kind 
of  man  whom  we  prefer  should  eat  at  some  other  table, 
and  in  a  different  room. 

But  his  sister  Anne  set  all  her  wits  to  work  to  bring 
about  a  marriage  between  the  repulsive  and  ignorant  king 
and  the  young  Princess  of  Brittany  —  a  bright,  pretty, 
self-willed,  and  cultivated  lady. 

There  were  two  obstacles  in  Anne's  way  which  might 
have  disconcerted  any  one  less  resolute  than  the  ^favourite 
daughter  of  Louis  XI. 

One  was  that  Charles  VIII.  was  already  married.  The 
other  was  that  the  Breton  princess  was  already  married. 

By  his  union  with  Mary  of  Burgundy,  Maximilian  had 
a  daughter  named  Marguerite,  who  had  been  given  as  a 
wife  to  Charles  VIII.  ;  and  she  was  even  now  living  in 
France  awaiting  the  time  when  her  age  would  permit  the 
marriage  to  be  consummated. 

After  the  death  of  Mary  of  Burgundy,  Maximilian  had 
become  a  suitor  for  the  hand  of  Anne  of  Brittany,  as 


xix        ANNE  OF  FRANCE  AND  CHARLES  THE  EIGHTH         305 

has  already  been  stated.  He  was  only  twenty-nine  years 
old,  magnificent  in  stature,  brave  in  war,  and  a  man  of 
some  culture  and  ability.  Anne  inclined  so  strongly 
toward  him  that,  in  1489,  she  married  him  by  proxy  — 
the  Count  of  Nassau  acting  for  Maximilian.  The  bride- 
groom himself  couldn't  come,  because  he  was  busy  with 
a  Hungarian  war.  It  probably  did  not  occur  to  him  that 
his  bride  would  not  stay  married  till  the  war  was  over, 
else  he  might  have  yielded  a  point  or  two,  made  peace, 
and  come  home  in  time  to  keep  his  son-in-law  from  marry- 
ing his  wife.  At  all  events,  he  did  not  return,  and  the 
French  party  pressed  the  suit  of  their  king  with  eager- 
ness and  good  judgment.  The  French  troops  still  occu- 
pied portions  of  Brittany,  and  they  received  orders  to 
advance.  War  as  well  as  love  was  waged  against  the 
young  princess.  The  French  king  besieged  her  heart 
and  her  towns  with  equal  pertinacity.  Finally  the  French  A.D. 
troops  laid  siege  to  Rennes,  the  very  town  in  which  the  1491 
princess  dwelt,  and  she  was  about  to  fall  into  Charles' 
hands  as  a  prisoner  of  war. 

What  should  she  do  ?  Maximilian  was  far  away  fight- 
ing Hungarians,  Charles  was  there  present  fighting  Bret- 
ons, but  offering  to  marry  the  Breton  princess.  Should 
she  become  a  captive  and  disinherited  princess,  or  should 
she  become  a  crowned  and  sceptred  queen  ? 

In  such  a  dilemma,  the  French  marriage  became  a  ne-    A.D. 
cessity,   and   the   princess   yielded.      Her   contract   with   ] 
Maximilian  and  Charles'  contract  with  Marguerite  were 
annulled  by  the  Church,  and  Anne  of  Brittany  became 
queen  of  France, — but  no  historian  .pretends   that   she 
was  ever  fond  of  Charles. 

The  little  German  Princess  Marguerite,  who  for  eight 


306  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

years  had  been  waiting  in  France  to  become  the  king's 
wife,  was  sent  home  to  her  father,  Maximilian. 

If  ever  a  monarch  had  just  cause  to  grumble,  it  was 
this  Maximilian.  The  French  king  had  not  only  insulted 
him  by  returning  his  daughter,  but  had  poisoned  the 
wound  by  marrying  his  wife.  Maximilian  began  to  make 
preparations  for  a  war  of  revenge. 

After  the  battle  of  Fontenoy  in  1745,  Louis  XV.  visited 
Brussels,  and  was  taken  to  see  the  tombs  of  the  old  Bur- 
gundian  rulers,  Charles  the  Bold,  and  Mary,  his  daughter, 
and  Marguerite,  his  granddaughter. 

"  There  lie  the  causes  of  all  our  wars,"  said  the  French 
king.  He  spoke  the  truth.  The  unscrupulous  dishon- 
esty with  which  Louis  XI.  and  Charles  VIII.  treated 
Mary  of  Burgundy  and  Marguerite  was  the  origin  of  the 
furious  hatred  which  sprang  up  between  the  royal  houses 
of  France  and  Austria.  Wars  ensued,  —  pitiless  wars,  — 
in  which  a  million  or  more  people  of  the  inferior  sort  lost 
their  lives  in  fighting  out  this  ancient  royal  quarrel  which 
in  no  way  concerned  them. 

The  match  between  Charles  and  Anne  of  Brittany  was 
the  last  great  achievement  of  "  Anne  of  France,"  and  she 
withdrew  from  state  affairs,  devoting  herself  to  the  duties 
of  her  private  station. 

A.D.        Charles  VIII.  was  now  (1491)  the  most  powerful  mon- 
1491   arch  in  Europe.    Brittany  having  been  brought  under  royal 
authority,  France  was  more  compact,  more  wealthy,  and 
more  formidable  than  any  single  state  on  the  continent. 

Charles  was  twenty -two  years  old,  and  was  just  weak 
enough  to  believe-  he  had  done  it  all  himself,  that  his 
prowess  had  subdued  rebellion,  and  his  policy  had  secured 
his  brilliant  marriage. 


xix        ANNE  OF  FRANCE  AND  CHARLES  THE  EIGHTH         307 

Intoxicated  by  his  own  greatness,  he  began  to  dream 
dreams.  He  longed  to  rival  the  glories  of  Charlemagne. 
He  resolved  to  assert  his  claims  to  the  throne  of  Naples  ; 
and,  after  securing  it,  he  meant  to  pass  into  Greece,  lib- 
erate that  oppressed  people,  expel  the  intrusive  Turk 
from  Constantinople,  rescue  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  and 
astonish  mankind  generally. 

His  sister  Anne  had  not  lost  her  good  sense,  and  she 
advised  the  king  against  these  fine  schemes  ;  so  did  his 
wisest  counsellors  and  warriors.  But  Charles  was  in  the 
first  flush  of  youth,  was  surrounded  by  ardent  young  men 
eager  for  adventures,  and  the  war  party  prevailed. 

Some  heavy  sacrifices  had  to  be  made  to  his  neighbours 
before  the  French  king  could  feel  safe  in  leaving  home. 

To  keep  Ferdinand  of  Spain  quiet,  Roussillon  and  Car- 
dagna  had  to  be  given  up  to  him. 

To  pacify  Maximilian  the  provinces  of  Artois,  Charo- 
lais,  and  Franche-Comte  were  ceded.  These  provinces 
had  constituted  the  dowry  of  Marguerite,  and  Charles, 
who  had  repudiated  Marguerite,  had  neglected  to  return 
her  dowry. 

Considering  it  a  good  time  to  show  his  gratitude  to 
Charles  for  aiding  him  to  win  the  English  throne,  Henry 
VII.,  formerly  Henry  of  Richmond,  outcast  and  prisoner, 
now  invaded  France,  and  laid  siege  to  Boulogne. 

Charles  bought  him  off  by  the  promise  of  745,000 
crowns  of  gold. 

Having  pacified  these  rulers  at  such  immense  cost  to    A.U. 
the  kingdom,  Charles  VIII.  now  set  forward  upon  his    1494 
expedition  to  Italy.     It  was  a  fine  army  of  50,000  men 
which   moved   toward   the    Alps   in   August,    1494,   and 
crossed  over  in  the  early  days  of  September. 


308  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

The  historian  of  Charles  VIII.,  M.  de  Cherrier,  relates 
the  following  incident :  — 

"  On  the  8th  of  September,  1494,  Charles  VIII.  started 
from  Grenoble,  crossed  Mount  Genevre,  and  slept  at  Onlex 
in  Piedmont.  In  the  evening  a  peasant,  who  was  accused 
of  being  one  of  the  Vaudois,  was  brought  before  him. 
The  king  gave  him  audience,  and  then  handed  him  over 
to  the  provost,  who  had  him  hanged  on  a  tree." 

The  Vaudois  were  Christians  who  had  renounced  the 
rule  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Such  people  deserved  death 
on  general  principles,  and  it  was  for  this  reason  that 
Charles  VIII.,  a  good  Catholic,  had  the  wretched  peasant 
summarily  hanged. 

The  invaders  of  Italy  met  but  slight  resistance.  In 
fact,  they  had  been  invited  to  come  by  certain  Italian 
princes  and  politicians,  who  had  designs  of  their  own  to 
further.  At  this  time  Italy  was  split  into  jealous  and 
contending  dukedoms,  principalities,  kingdoms,  and  re- 
publics. Separately  none  of  them  was  able  to  resist  the 
French.  Therefore,  Charles'  march  was  a  mere  military 
parade.  Every  little  potentate  met  the  great  king  with 
cap  in  hand,  and  bowed  him  onward,  as  speedily  as  possi- 
ble, toward  Naples. 

Ludovico  Sforza,  regent  of  the  duchy  of  Milan,  was  one 
of  those  who  had  urged  Charles  to  undertake  the  expedi- 
tion. He  met  the  king  most  cordially,  opened  a  passage 
through  the  territories  of  Milan  for  the  French  troops, 
and  thus  earned,  it  was  said,  the  privilege  of  hastening, 
by  poison,  the  death  of  his  own  nephew,  the  Duke  of 
Milan,  whose  crown  he  at  once  seized.  Charles  became 
distrustful  of  Ludovico,  and  rejected  further  proposals 
from  him,  thus  making  a  dangerous  foe.  Passing  through 


six        ANNE  OF  FRANCE  AND  CHARLES  THE  EIGHTH         309 

Lombardy,  the  French  troops  entered  the  territories  of 
Florence.  Several  small  towns  which  offered  resistance 
were  taken,  and  were  treated  with  atrocious  cruelty.  At 
this  the  head  of  the  Florentine  republic,  Piero  de'  Medici, 
became  terrified,  and  made  humiliating  concessions  to  the 
French  king.  This  so  enraged  the  people  of  Florence 
that  they  rose  against  the  Medici  and  drove  them  out. 

The  famous  priest,  Savonarola,  was  the  master-spirit  in 
Florence  at  this  time,  and  he  hailed  the  French  invasion 
with  joy.  In  his  eyes  Charles  VIII.  was  an  instrument 
in  the  hands  of  God,  a  scourge  for  the  princes  of  Italy. 

At  the  head  of  a  delegation,  Savonarola  went  out  from 
Florence  to  meet  the  invader,  and  invite  him  to  enter  the 
city. 

Charles  entered  accordingly,  but  he  misunderstood  the 
situation  entirely.  He  conceived  himself  to  be  a  con- 
queror, whereas  the  Florentines  had  opened  their  gates 
to  him  as  an  ally,  a  friend.  Acting  upon  his  view  of  the 
matter,  Charles  attempted  to  impose  certain  harsh  condi- 
tions upon  Florence.  An  uproar  at  once  ensued.  "  Sound 
your  trumpets,"  cried  Pietro  Capponi  to  the  French  king, 
"and  we  will  ring  our  bells."  He  snatched  the  paper  in 
which  the  French  demands  were  set  forth,  tore  it  up 
before  the  king's  eyes,  and  rushed  out  to  arouse  the 
people.  The  Florentines  flew  to  arms,  and  Charles  gave 
way.  He  recalled  Capponi,  and  friendly  terms  were  soon 
arranged. 

From  Florence  Charles  proceeded  to  Rome.  Alex- 
ander VI.,  the  ever  infamous  Borgia,  was  then  Pope.  He 
was  extremely  anxious  that  the  invaders  should  not  enter 
the  Holy  City.  On  the  other  hand,  Charles  was  exceed- 
ingly anxious  to  enter,  and  he  did  so.  The  cardinals 


310  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

and  the  nobles  received  the  French  as  liberators,  and 
urged  them  to  depose  the  Pope. 

Upon  leaving  Rome,  Charles  took  with  him,  as  hostage 
of  the  Pope's  fidelity,  Csesar  Borgia,  the  Pope's  son  ;  but 
the  brilliant  and  slippery  young  man  soon  made  his  escape. 

Charles  now  advanced  toward  Naples.  It  fell  almost 
without  a  blow.  The  reigning  house  was  so  intensely 
unpopular  that  it  was  betrayed  and  deserted  on  all  sides, 
and  the  king,  Ferdinand  II.,  fled  to  the  island  of  Ischia. 
A-D-  Charles  VIII.  entered  the  city  of  Naples  in  triumph 
(1495)  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  the  people  scattering 
flowers  before  him,  and  cheering  him  enthusiastically. 
As  he  rode  forward,  he  was  sheltered  by  a  canopy  of  cloth 
of  gold,  borne  by  four  great  Neapolitan  lords.  Once 
within  the  city,  the  French  abandoned  themselves  to  its 
pleasures.  It  was  another  Capua.  King  Charles  was 
delighted.  He  enjoyed  the  palaces  and  the  gardens ;  the 
trees,  the  flowers,  and  the  fountains  ;  the  feastings  and  the 
revelries ;  the  wine  and  the  women.  Never  was  a  monarch 
better  pleased  with  himself  and  with  his  surroundings. 
He  lingered  on,  day  after  day,  week  after  week,  month 
after  month,  tasting  every  joy  of  the  licentious  southern 
city.  Not  satisfied  with  the  splendour  of  his  triumphal 
entry,  he  must  needs  do  it  all  over  again.  So  he  went 
outside  and  entered  once  more  —  this  time  bearing  the 
proud  titles  of  "King  of  Naples,  Sicily,  and  Jerusalem." 
Again  he  rode  under  a  golden  canopy  borne  by  Neapol- 
itan lords,  wearing  a  crown  on  his  head,  carrying  a  sceptre 
in  one  hand,  a  golden  globe  in  the  other,  and  attended  by 
a  brilliant  concourse  of  French  and  Neapolitan  cavaliers, 
as  he  slowly  paraded  through  all  the  principal  streets  of 
Naples. 


six        ANNE  OF  FRANCE  AND  CHARLES  THE  EIGHTH         311 

A  few  days  afterwards  he  set  forth  upon  his  return 
to  France,  leaving  Gilbert  of  Bourbon  behind  in  command 
of  the  French  garrisons.  It  was  high  time  that  Charles 
should  be  getting  out  of  Italy.  A  formidable  league  had 
been  formed  against  him  by  all  the  Italian  states,  led  by 
Ludovico,  Duke  of  Milan,  and  his  Holiness,  Pope  Alex- 
ander VI.  This  league  had  the  active  and  powerful 
support  of  the  neighbours  whose  good  will  Charles  sup- 
posed he  had  bought ;  Ferdinand,  Maximilian,  and  Henry 
VII.  of  England.  The  proposition  of  the  league  was 
to  cut  off  the  retreat  of  the  French  king,  and  they 
came  so  near  doing  it  that  the  conquering  hero,  Charles, 
had  to  fight  desperately  for  the  privilege  of  getting  back 
home.  Owing  to  the  generalship  of  La  Tremouille,  and 
the  courage  of  the  French  troops,  the  battle  of  Fornova  A.D. 
was  a  victory,  and  the  king  was  enabled  to  continue  his  1495 
retreat  without  further  molestation. 

At  the  battle  of  Fornova  the  Chevalier  Bayard  first 
attracted  honourable  notice  by  his  impetuous  gallantry. 
Barely  twenty  years  of  age,  he  had  two  horses  killed 
under  him,  and  captured  a  standard,  which  he  presented 
to  the  king,  who  gave  him  five  hundred  crowns. 

Once  at  home  again,  Charles  VIII.  took  good  care  to 
stay  there.  It  is  true  that  he  continued  to  dream  of 
Italian  conquests,  but  his  intention  was  that  some  one 
else  should  lead  the  invasion.  He  was  anxious  that  the 
Duke  of  Orleans  should  go,  but  the  duke  much  preferred 
to  remain  in  France,  and  the  king  did  not  insist. 

Ferdinand  of  Spain  sent  Gonsalvo  de  Cordova  against 
the  French  in  Naples,  and  the  country  was  rapidly 
recovered.  Charles  VIII.  was  occupied  with  his  pleas- 
ures, and  he  sent  neither  men  nor  money  to  the  com- 


312  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP,  xix 

manders  he  had  left  to  hold  his  conquests  in  Italy.  They 
lost  place  after  place  for  sheer  lack  of  supplies  and  reen- 
forcements.  Soon  the  Spaniards  were  masters  of  the 
entire  kingdom.  The  fugitive  Neapolitan  king,  Ferdi- 
nand II.,  then  suddenly  became  the  popular  favourite  in 
Naples  and  was  welcomed  back  to  the  throne  enthusias- 
tically, by  the  same  people  who  had  enthusiastically  wel- 
comed Charles  VIII.  Thus  the  French  lost  all  they  had 
gained,  excepting  a  vicious  foreign  policy  which  was  to 
cost  millions  of  treasure  and  thousands  of  lives. 

Charles  VIII.  lived  three  years  after  his  return  from 
Italy,  and,  according  to  the  historian  Comines,  "he  set 
his  imagination  to  live  according  to  the  commandments 
of  God." 

He  reduced  the  taxes  to  1,200,000  francs,  defrayed  the 
balance  of  his  expenses  out  of  his  private  estate,  and 
gave  ear  to  all  complaints  of  his  people  against  those  in 
authority. 

A.D.        In  April,  1498,  while  passing  out  of  a  dark  gallery  in 
!   the  castle  of  Amboise,  he  struck  his  head  against  the  top 
of   the  doorway  so  violently  that  he  died  a  few   hours 
afterwards,  at  the  age  of  twenty -eight. 

With  Charles  VIII.  the  direct  line  of  Valois  became 
extinct. 

His  widow,  Anne  of  Brittany,  as  a  sign  of  mourning 
adopted  black,  —  white  having  been  the  colour  for  royal 
mourning  before  that  time,  —  and  the  change  became 
permanent.  This  queen  was  the  first  who  ever  had  a 
separate  court  of  her  own,  a  body-guard,  and  an  organized 
household  of  maids  of  honour,  whose  salaries  were  paid 
out  of  the  public  funds. 


CHAPTER   XX 

LOUIS   THE   TWELFTH 

/"CHARLES  VIII.  left  no  children,  and  the  crown  was   A.D. 
^-^    inherited   by   the   next   prince   of   the   blood-royal,   1498 
Louis,  Duke  of  Orleans,  —  he  of  the  rebellions  and  the 
iron  cage. 

Under  the  name  of  Louis  XII.,  the  new  king  made  a 
happy  beginning  of  his  reign  by  reducing  the  taxes, 
declining  to  accept  the  usual  coronation  dues,  and  by 
magnanimously  stating  that  he,  as  king,  would  not 
avenge  injuries  done  to  him  while  Duke  of  Orleans. 

Mentally  and  morally  Louis  XII.  was  rather  a  weak 
man,  unstable  and  unwise  ;  but  he  was  really  concerned 
for  the  welfare  of  the  French  people,  and  under  his  mild, 
economical  administration  they  prospered. 

It  was  his  good  fortune  to  have  the  assistance  of  an 
able,  honest,  and  patriotic  minister,  Cardinal  Amboise. 
Guided  by  this  wise  and  humane  counsellor,  Louis  in- 
troduced many  reforms,  corrected  many  abuses,  and  well 
earned  the  title  of  "  The  Father  of  his  People." 

The  taxes  were  reduced  to  nearly  one-third,  viz.,  to 
about  68,000,000  francs,  or  $13,600,000.  The  personal 
and  household  expenses  of  the  king  were  met  by  the 
revenues  of  his  royal  domains.  No  pensions  and  gratui- 
ties granted  to  court  favourites  absorbed  the  income  of 
the  State.  The  public  money  was  scrupulously  used  for 

313 


314  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

public  purposes.  The  court  was  inexpensive,  the  king's 
habits  simple  ;  and  when  his  cash  ran  short,  on  account 
of  his  foreign  wars,  he  did  not,  at  first,  levy  additional 
taxes  upon  the  people  ;  he  sold  portions  of  his  property, 
and  thus  got  the  necessary  money. 

Such  a  government  as  this  was  most  distasteful  to  the 
courtiers,  and  they  ridiculed  the  king's  miserly  methods. 
In  reply  to  their  jeers,  he  is  credited  with  a  very  noble 
utterance  :  "  I  had  rather  make  the  courtiers  laugh  by 
my  stinginess,  than  my  people  weep  by  my  extravagance." 

In  the  administration  of  justice  he  made  some  useful 
reforms.  He  reduced  the  costs  of  litigation,  supplanted 
the  Latin  language,  still  used  in  criminal  proceedings, 
by  the  French,  and  abolished  the  sale  of  judicial  offices. 
He  directed  that  the  judges  should  select  three  persons 
from  whom  the  king  should  choose  the  appointee  for  each 
judicial  vacancy.  No  judge  was  allowed  to  accept  any 
place  or  pension  from  any  noble,  under  penalty  of  loss  of 
salary  or  office. 

The  ordinance  of  Charles  VIII.,  creating  a  supreme 
court  composed  of  the  chancellor  and  twenty  councillors, 
was  carried  into  effect.  It  strengthened  and  regulated 
the  royal  authority,  and  introduced  many  wise  reforms  in 
legislation,  consequently  it  drew  upon  itself  the  hostility 
of  the  Sorbonne. 

This  Sorbonne  was  at  first  only  a  theological  university, 
wherein  certain  doctors  of  divinity  exercised  their  facul- 
ties, to  more  or  less  advantage,  in  studying  and  teaching 
theological  subtleties. 

It  was  the  only  thing  of  the  kind  in  France,  and  it  soon 
became  an  authority.  Difficult  questions  which  vexed 
the  understanding  of  the  untutored  and  uninitiated  were 


xx  LOUIS  THE  TWELFTH  315 

referred  to  the  Sorbonne  for  unravelment,  and  the  deci- 
sions rendered  became  conclusive  in  regard  to  the  issues 
raised. 

For  example,  the  Sorbonne  had  been  consulted  three 
times  about  Joan  of  Arc,  and  had  decided  first  that  she 
was  not  a  witch  —  whereupon  she  went  gloriously  to  the 
wars  and  drove  out  the  English.  Again  the  question 
was  sprung,  and  the  Sorbonne  decided  that  Joan  was  a 
witch  —  whereupon  she  was  burned. 

Finally,  the  issue  was  once  more  raised,  and  the  Sor- 
bonne decided  that  Joan  was  not  a  witch  —  whereupon 
she  was  rehabilitated. 

Finding  its  decisions  respected  in  this  gratifying  man- 
ner, the  Sorbonne  gradually  extended  the  bounds  of  its 
self-given  jurisdiction,  and  took  cognizance  of  questions 
judicial  and  political.  Tax-collectors  and  magistrates 
were  constantly  finding  themselves  obstructed  by  the 
doctors  of  divinity.  If  the  officers  of  State  refused  to 
hearken  to  the  Sorbonne,  those  astute  theologians  de- 
clared a  suspension  of  preaching  and  teaching  and  thus 
brought  about  something  of  a  deadlock  —  for  of  course 
an  orthodox  state  could  not  administer  fiscal  and  judicial 
matters  if  the  preaching  was  shut  off. 

The  Roman  augurs  had  a  similar  habit  of  stopping  the 
wheels  of  State,  as  the  Sorbonne,  perhaps,  knew,  by 
gazing  fixedly  at  the  heavens  and  solemnly  declaring  that 
they  were  not  propitious.  Julius  Csesar  was  the  first  who 
had  the  courage  to  disregard  this  priestly  veto  to  public 
business  in  Rome  ;  and  to  Louis  XII.  belongs  the  honour 
of  putting  an  end  to  it  in  France. 

Although  the  Sorbonne  formally  and  solemnly  con- 
demned the  new  court  and  its  reforms,  the  king  and 


316  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Cardinal  Amboise  stood  firm.  In  vain  the  Sorbonne  pro- 
nounced a  suspension  of  study  and  of  preaching.  The 
king  reprimanded  the  divine  doctors  sharply,  and,  at  the 
end  of  eight  months,  they  gave  up  the  contest. 

Thus  we  have  seen  that  the  domestic  administration 
of  Louis  XII.  was  creditable  to  him  and  beneficial  to  his 
people.  They  prospered  under  it.  Commerce  and  agri- 
culture developed  wonderfully.  The  roads  were  safe, 
traders  became  rich,  the  farmers  cleared  immense  tracts 
of  land  for  cultivation,  rents  advanced,  and  the  peasants, 
freed  from  the  depredations  of  the  soldiers,  blessed  the 
good  king  and  his  wise  minister. 

In  these  measures  of  reform  we  see  the  harvest  of  the 
seed  sown  by  the  States  General  of  1484  ;  so  true  it  is 
that  the  principles  of  right,  once  given  to  the  world,  live 
and  find  advocates  from  age  to  age. 

Clearly  as  Louis  XII.  deserves  praise  for  his  domestic 
administration,  he  deserves  unqualified  censure  for  his 
A.D.  foreign  policy.  Even  his  marriage  with  Anne  of  Brit- 
tany, widow  of  the  late  king,  was  a  questionable  step,  for 
the  marriage  settlement  did  not  irrevocably  unite  that 
province  to  France,  as  historians  usually  declare.  On  the 
other  hand  Brittany  was  to  descend  to  the  second  child  of 
Anne,  if  children  should  be  born,  and  in  default  of  a  sec- 
ond child,  to  her  next  heir.  This  marriage,  therefore,  was 
more  immediately  in  the  interest  of  the  greatness  of  Louis 
than  of  France. 

To  prepare  himself  for  this  union  with  Anne  of  Brit- 
tany, Louis  had  to  renounce  his  wife  Joan,  whose  only 
defect  was  an  extreme  ugliness.  Only  the  Pope  could 
annul  the  marriage,  but  the  vicegerent  of  Christ  on 
earth,  at  this  time,  was  Alexander  VI.,  the  depraved 


xx  LOUIS  THE  TWELFTH  317 

Borgia,  and  the  matter  was  successfully  negotiated. 
Bribes,  direct  and  indirect,  were  skilfully  used;  and  in 
spite  of  Joan's  resistance  she  was  put  aside  by  concert  of 
action  between  an  ungodly  Pope  and  an  unscrupulous 
husband.  The  decree  of  divorce  was  brought  to  France 
by  Caesar  Borgia,  the  Pope's  bastard  son,  to  whom  the 
king  granted  the  title  and  the  duchy  of  Valentinois. 

A  very  remarkable  man  was  this  Csesar  Borgia  — 
handsome,  fearless,  accomplished,  subtle,  daring,  treacher- 
ous, unprincipled,  merciless,  ambitious,  and  indefatigable. 
His  father  made  him  a  cardinal  while  he  was  yet  in  his 
teens,  then  relieved  him  of  his  honour  and  granted  him  a 
principality.  By  one  bold  stroke  after  another,  Csesar  rose 
into  a  power  which  seemed  to  promise  the  realization  of 
his  dream  —  Italian  unity.  His  father,  the  Pope,  was  his 
chief  support,  and  this  support  suddenly  failed  him. 

A  certain  cardinal,  Corneto  by  name,  had  become 
objectionable  to  the  Pope  and  his  son  Caesar,  and  Caesar 
therefore  invited  him  to  a  friendly  meal  with  them,  the 
design  being  to  have  him  drink  poison  unawares  during 
the  progress  of  the  friendly  entertainment.  By  an 
accident  the  Pope  and  his  son  drank  the  poisoned  wine 
which  they  had  intended  for  their  guest.  The  Pope 
died,  Caesar  barely  survived,  and  was  thus  rendered  help- 
less at  the  most  critical  period  of  his  fortunes.  The  new 
Pope  was  his  mortal  enemy,  and  his  foes  combined  against 
him  while  he  was  still  prostrated  from  the  effects  of  the 
poison.  Stripped  of  all  his  possessions,  he  was  cast  into 
prison,  first  by  the  Venetians,  and  then  handed  over  to 
the  Spaniards.  After  two  years'  confinement  he  escaped, 
joined  the  army  of  his  brother-in-law,  the  king  of  Navarre, 
and  was  killed  in  a  skirmish  with  the  Spaniards. 


318  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

The  grandmother  of  Louis  XII.  was  Valentina  Visconti, 
wife  of  that  Duke  of  Orleans  whom  John  the  Fearless  of 
Burgundy  had  caused  to  be  assassinated  in  the  streets 
of  Paris.  Through  this  grandmother,  Louis  laid  claim 
to  the  duchy  of  Milan,  —  which  duchy,  being  a  fief -male, 
his  grandmother  could  not  have  held. 

However,  Louis  thought  he  had  at  least  as  good  a  title 
as  that  of  Ludovico  Sforza,  who  had  usurped  the  duchy, 
after  poisoning  a  nephew  who  had  usurped  it  previously. 
To  drive  out  Sforza  and  take  possession  of  the  Milanese, 
A.D.  the  French  king  (1499)  sent  an  army  over  the  Alps,  and 
subdued  the  duchy  in  twenty  days. 

The  administration  of  the  French  governor,  however, 
was  so  unpopular  that  in  a  few  months  the  Milanese 
revolted,  and  Sforza  was  reinstated. 

Louis  sent  another  army,  under  La  Tremouille,  and  it 
A.D.  encountered  the  forces  of  Sforza,  near  Novara,  April,  1500. 
The  principal  strength  of  both  armies  was  the  Swiss  con- 
tingent; naturally  these  troops  were  reluctant  to  fight 
each  other.  To  avoid  so  unpleasant  a  necessity,  the 
Swiss  of  Sforza's  army  laid  hands  upon  him,  and  delivered 
him  over  to  the  French. 

Louis  XII.  put  him  in  prison,  in  France,  and  there  he 
died  many  years  afterwards. 

The  Pope  Alexander  VI.  had  been  friendly  to  the 
French  conquest  of  Milan,  and  now  by  way  of  compen- 
sation, Louis  assisted  Csesar  Borgia  to  conquer  the 
Romagna. 

Having  succeeded  so  well  against  Sforza,  the  French 
king  turned  his  attention  to  Naples,  where  Frederick  III. 
was  ruler.  Louis  did  not  wish  to  involve  himself  in  a 
war  with  Spain,  to  whose  aid  the  Neapolitan  kings  owed 


xx  LOUIS  THE  TWELFTH  319 

their  reinstatement,  and  he  therefore  proposed  to  Ferdi- 
nand the  Catholic,  king  of  Spain,  a  friendly  division  of 
the  coveted  territory. 

Now  Ferdinand  the  Catholic  was  one  of  the  craftiest 
knaves  that  ever  lived.  In  all  the  long  line  of  hypocrites 
who  have  used  religion  as  a  cloak  for  rascality  there  has 
never  been  a  greater  than  he. 

Consequently  Louis  XII.  made  a  lamentable  blunder 
when  he  formed  a  copartnership  of  crime  with  so  expert 
a  professional  as  Ferdinand.  It  was  well-nigh  inevitable 
that  Louis  should  emerge  from  the  business  with  some 
slight  addition  to  his  experience,  but  with  nothing  more 
—  excepting  the  shame  of  showing  willingness  to  be  a 
criminal  without  the  ability  to  profit  thereby. 

Ferdinand  the  Catholic  readily  agreed  to  the  infamous 
bargain  offered  him  by  Louis,  and  the  two  royal  robbers 
committed  to  writing  the  terms  of  the  compact  by  which 
they  were  jointly  to  despoil  the  king  of  Naples  of  his 
dominions.  They  put  the  seal  of  religion  upon  the 
transaction  by  securing  from  his  Holiness,  the  Pope,  a 
formal  decree  authorizing  the  division  agreed  upon. 

The  victim  of  the  plot,  Frederick  III.,  suspected  that   A.D. 
Louis  XII.  harboured  designs  against  him,  and  he  applied   ] 
to  Ferdinand  for  help.     He  never  once  suspected   that 
Ferdinand  was  in  league  with  Louis.     The  Spanish  king 
readily  agreed  to  give  the  desired  aid,  and  Gonsalvo  de 
Cordova,  "the  Great  Captain,"  was  sent  to  furnish  it. 

The  unsuspecting  Frederick  joyfully  welcomed  the 
Spanish  troops,  and  put  them  into  possession  of  the 
strongest  fortresses  of  Naples.  He  had  hardly  done  so 
when  the  information  reached  him  that  Ferdinand  and 
Louis  had  conspired  to  rob  him.  His  amazement  was 


320  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

extreme.  In  his  despair,  he  did  not  strike  a  blow  for 
his  throne,  but  surrendered  himself  to  the  generosity  of 
the  French  king. 

Louis  treated  him  royally,  giving  him  a  pension  of 
30,000  livres,  and  the  county  of  Maine,  where  he  died 
in  1504. 

A.D.  The  kingdom  of  Naples  was  now  in  possession  of  the 
'  Spaniards  and  the  French.  It  only  remained  that  the 
robbers  should  peaceably  divide  the  spoil.  This  they 
could  not  do,  for  the  reason  that  Ferdinand  the  Catholic 
had  intended  all  along  that  the  French  should  not  have 
any.  He  wanted  it  all  for  himself,  and  he  got  it.  His 
army,  under  Gonsalvo,  defeated  the  French  in  two  battles, 
and  the  Spaniards  were  masters  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples. 
Greatly  incensed  at  the  conduct  of  Ferdinand,  Louis 
determined  to  punish  him.  Two  French  armies  were 
sent  against  Spain  itself,  and  one  against  Gonsalvo  in 
Naples. 

A.D.  These  efforts  failed.  The  invasion  of  Spain  did  not 
prosper,  and  the  army  sent  against  Gonsalvo  was  disas- 
trously routed  upon  the  Garigliano  —  a  defeat  redeemed 
only  by  the  heroic  courage  with  which  the  Chevalier  Bay- 
ard alone  defended  the  bridge  against  the  Spaniards. 

Ferdinand  the  Catholic  remained  unpunished.  His 
conception  of  the  moralities  may  be  faintly  seen  in  a 
remark  he  made  concerning  Louis  XII.  :  — 

"  The  king  of  France  complains  that  I  have  deceived 
him  twice  ;  he  lies,  the  drunkard,  —  I  have  deceived  him 
more  than  ten  times." 

A.D.        The  enemies   of  Louis  XII.   were  preparing   to   take 

1504  ]\fiian  from  him  also,  when  he  averted  the  danger  by  the 
Treaties  of  Blois  (1504).  By  the  first  of  these  Louis 


xx  LOUIS  THE  TWELFTH  321 

entered  into  a  compact  with  Maximilian,  emperor  of 
Germany,  to  conquer  and  divide  the  republic  of  Venice ; 
by  the  second  he  agreed  to  pay  Maximilian  200,000  francs 
in  return  for  the  investiture  of  Milan  ;  by  the  third  he 
agreed  that  his  daughter  Claude  should  wed  Maximilian's 
grandson,  afterwards  Charles  V.,  and  carry  to  him  as 
dowry  the  three  French  provinces  of  Burgundy,  Brittany, 
and  Blois.  This  last  was  an  insane  treaty,  and  Louis 
took  the  first  opportunity  of  shuffling  out  of  it.  Accord- 
ing to  some  authorities,  Anne  of  Brittany,  the  queen,  was 
responsible  for  it.  She  was  more  Breton  than  French, 
fonder  of  her  daughter  than  of  France,  and  persuaded  her 
husband  into  an  engagement  to  dismember  his  kingdom  in 
the  interest  of  his  daughter. 

As  soon  as  this  treaty  became  noised  abroad,  intense 
opposition  to  it  arose.  The  nobles  inflamed  public  senti- 
ment by  holding  public  meetings  in  all  parts  of  France. 
The  king  was  asked  to  call  the  States  General  together, 
and  he  did  so.  It  met  at  Tours,  May  10,  1506. 

The  deputies,  through  their  spokesman,  Thomas  Bricot,    A.D. 
addressed  the  king  in  the  most  dutiful  language,  praising   1506 
him  for  the  many  beneficent  reforms  he  had   effected. 
They  thanked  him  for  taxes  reduced,  justice   honestly 
administered,  peace  and   security  restored,   and   private 
property   respected.     They   hailed   him   "Father   of  his 
People." 

"At  these  words,"  says  the  historian,  "cheers  rang  out, 
emotion  was  general,  and  the  king  himself  shed  tears." 
Then  the  deputies  dropped  on  their  knees  and  begged 
the  king  to  give  his  daughter  in  marriage  to  the  French 
prince,  Francis  of  Angouleme,  heir  presumptive  to  the 
throne. 


322  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

After  some  hesitation  the  king  did  as  he  was  asked, 
and  the  betrothal  was  at  once  celebrated.  Not  until 
these  nuptials  did  Brittany  finally  become  irrevocably 
united  to  France. 

Ferdinand  and  Maximilian  were  not  prepared  just  then 
to  punish  Louis  for  his  violation  of  the  Treaty  of  Blois, 
and  they  made  no  protest. 

A.D.  At  this  time  (1507)  the  republic  of  Genoa  was  subject 
1507  ^0  France.  It  disgusted  the  feudal  lords  of  that  country 
very  much  to  see  the  common  people  exercising  power  in 
conjunction  with  the  nobility.  The  French  citizens  of 
Genoa,  supported  by  their  government,  became  intoler- 
ably offensive  and  threatening  in  their  behaviour  toward 
the  Genoese,  who  thereupon  revolted  and  expelled  the 
French.  Louis  XII.  vowed  vengeance  —  Genoa  being 
small  enough  —  and  marched  against  the  city  with  a  fine 
army.  Genoa  was  no  match  for  France,  and  the  little 
republic  was  an  easy  prey.  Louis  XII.  hanged  seventy- 
nine  of  the  principal  citizens,  and  ruined  the  balance  by 
inflicting  a  fine  of  300,000  florins  upon  them. 

Another  republic  was  now  to  feel  the  weight  of  Louis' 
arm.  Venice  had  been  his  ally  in  his  former  campaign  in 
Italy,  and  had  given  him  no  cause  of  quarrel  whatever. 
It  was  a  barrier  to  France  against  Germany,  and  good 
policy  as  well  as  principle  should  have  inclined  Louis  to 
cultivate  the  Venetian  alliance. 

Venice,   however,   was   a    republic,   was    rich,   offered 

tempting  booty  to  the  greedy  royal  marauders,  and  the 

A.D.    neighbouring  kings  combined  to  despoil  her.     Louis  XII., 

*   Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  and  the  Emperor  Maximilian  were 

the  parties  to  this  most  unholy  combination.     Pope  Julius 

II.  not  only  sanctioned  the  enterprise,  but  proclaimed  an 


xx  LOUIS  THE  TWELFTH  323 

interdict  against  the  republic  of  Venice,  her  magistrates, 
her  citizens,  and  her  defenders.  In  other  words,  his 
Holiness  called  down  the  divine  wrath  upon  the  intended 
victims  of  royal  spoliation  in  case  they  failed  to  submit 
with  due  meekness  to  the  will  of  the  robbers.  The  com- 
pact between  the  Pope  and  the  kings  already  named  is 
known  to  history  as  the  League  of  Cambray  (1508). 

The  French  army,  20,000  strong,  immediately  invaded 
the  Venetian  territories.  In  May,  1509,  the  battle  of  A-D- 
Agnadello  was  fought,  the  French  king  gaining  a  deci- 
sive victory.  Town  after  town  fell  into  his  hands,  and 
he  treated  the  vanquished  with  remorseless  cruelty.  All 
was  lost  to  the  republic,  save  Venice  itself.  Inaccessible 
in  the  midst  of  the  lagoons,  it  defied  the  invaders,  and 
patiently  prepared  to  continue  the  struggle  when  dis- 
cord should  have  broken  out  among  the  allies. 

Louis  XII.  soon  returned  to  France,  leaving  his  troops 
under  Tremouille,  Trivulzio,  Bayard,  and  others  to  de- 
fend their  conquest. 

Pope  Julius,  "the  warrior  pope,"  had  already  accom- 
plished his  purpose,  and  was  ready  to  withdraw  from  the 
League.  He  had  received  the  humble  submission  of 
Venice,  had  removed  the  papal  excommunication,  had 
been  greatly  softened  by  the  cession  of  certain  Venetian 
territory  to  the  papal  domains,  and  he  now  formed  a 
treaty  with  the  Venetians,  the  Swiss,  and  Ferdinand  the 
Catholic,  to  drive  the  French  out  of  Italy.  The  con- 
spiracy which  these  recent  confederates  of  the  French  A.D. 
king  formed  against  their  common  friend  was  called  the  ] 
"Holy  League."  Their  united  forces  at  once  attacked 
the  French,  but  Gaston  de  Foix,  nephew  of  Louis  XII., 
gained  some  brilliant  triumphs  over  the  League.  At 


324  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

A.D.  Ravenna  (1512)  he  won  a  great  victory  over  the  allies, 
0  but  lost  his  life  in  recklessly  pursuing,  unattended,  a 
retreating  body  of  Spaniards.  With  the  death  of  this 
heroic  young  chief,  he  was  only  twenty-three,  termi- 
nated the  successes  of  Louis  XII.  in  Italy. 

It  greatly  embarrassed  an  orthodox  Catholic,  like 
Louis  XII.,  to  wage  war  against  the  head  of  the  Church. 
To  compel  the  Pope  to  sue  for  peace,  the  French  en- 
couraged the  schismatic  cardinals  who  were  holding  a 
council  at  Pisa.  These  partisans  of  Louis  and  Maxi- 
milian had  (on  paper)  suspended  Julius  II.  in  the  exer- 
cise of  papal  power,  but  he,  being  well  named  "  the 
warrior  pope,"  rose  defiantly  to  the  danger,  excommu- 
nicated the  French  king,  assembled  eighty-three  bishops 
from  all  parts  of  Christendom  in  the  Lateran  Council, 
secured  their  formal  acknowledgment  of  his  pontifi- 
cate, and  thus  threw  the  Council  of  Pisa  into  hopeless 
discredit. 

Disasters  fell  fast  upon  Louis.  Genoa  revolted,  Fer- 
dinand conquered  Navarre,  Bologna  fell,  and  the  Swiss 
reinstated  in  the  duchy  of  Milan,  Maximilian  Sforza,  son 
of  the  Ludovico  Sforza  whom  the  Swiss  had  betrayed 
A.D.  some  years  before.  After  the  battle  of  Novara  (1513), 
1513  where  Sforza  and  the  Swiss  routed  the  French  under 
Tremouille  and  Trivulzio,  Louis  XII.  held  not  a  single 
possession  beyond  the  Alps. 

Julius  II.,  "the  warrior  pope,"  did  not  live  to  enjoy 
all  this  good  news:  he  died  in  1513.  His  policy  had 
rescued  Italy  from  France,  only  to  throw  it  into  the 
hands  of  Spain,  thus  changing  masters  and  going  from 
bad  to  worse. 

The  enemies  of  France  now  invaded  her.     The  Swiss, 


xx  LOUIS  THE  TWELFTH  325 

the  Spaniards,  and  the  English  all  pressed  Louis  at  the 
same  time,  and  his  position  was  perilous. 

The  English  gained  "the  Battle  of  the  Spurs"  near 
Guinegate,  so  called  because  of  the  extreme  hurry  with 
which  the  French  got  away  from  there  without  fighting. 

The  Swiss  penetrated  as  far  as  Dijon,  to  which  they 
laid  siege.  Tremouille,  finding  it  impossible  to  beat 
them,  bought  them.  This  purchase,  however,  was  made 
with  great  difficulty,  and  the  price  paid  was  large,  some 
of  it  being  in  cash  and  some  in  promises. 

Louis  XII.  promptly  sanctioned  the  bargain,  and  praised 
Tremouille  highly  for  the  negotiation. 

The   new   Pope,  Leo  IX.,  was   still  the  soul   of   the 
league  against  France,  and  Louis  set  himself  to  work  to 
appease   the  pontiff.      This   he   did   by   disavowing   the 
Council  of  Pisa,  and  making  his  submission  to  the  ac- 
knowledged head  of  the  Church.     Ferdinand  the  Catho-    A.D. 
lie  and  Maximilian  were  ready  for  peace,  upon  condition   1514 
of  keeping  what  they  had  taken  from  Louis  ;  the  English 
were  bought  off  with  a  pension  of   100,000  crowns   per 
annum  to  be  paid  to  Henry  VIII.  for  ten  years,  and  by 
the  cession  of  the  city  of  Tournay. 

It  is  worthy  of  mention  that  when  the  English  were 
besieging  Tournay,  in  1514,  the  Emperor  Maximilian 
served  as  a  volunteer  in  the  English  service,  and  was 
paid  100  crowns  per  day. 

It  is  also  worth  mentioning  that  Maximilian's  daughter 
Marguerite  was  the  most  implacable  of  all  the  enemies 
to  France  during  these  years  of  war  and  disaster.  She 
was  the  ruler  of  the  Low  Countries,  and  her  influence 
with  her  father,  the  emperor,  was  always  used  against 
France.  She  hated  the  French  people  because  of  the 


326  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP,  xx 

humiliation  the  French  king  had  put  upon  her  in  her 
youth.  The  Florentine  minister,  writing  of  her,  said  : 
"  She  asks  for  nothing  but  war  against  the  king  of 
France ;  she  thinks  of  naught  but  keeping  up  and  fan- 
ning the  kindled  fire,  and  she  has  the  game  in  her  hands, 
for  the  king  of  England  and  the  emperor  have  full  con- 
fidence in  her,  and  she  does  with  them  just  as  she  pleases." 
In  this  manner,  the  fury  of  a  woman  scorned  dealt 
France  some  very  deadly  blows. 

Louis  had  at  length  obtained  peace,  but  the  price  was 
high.  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  his  Holiness  the  Pope, 
Maximilian,  and  Sforza  were  in  quiet  possession  of 
all  the  conquests  which  French  soldiers  had  died  to 
win ;  the  king  of  England  held  Tournay,  and  was  to 
be  paid  a  yearly  pension  ;  the  taxes  had  been  increased 
to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  long  wars,  new  imposts  laid, 
and  large  portions  of  the  royal  domains  sold.  To  this 
humiliating  situation  had  an  ambitious  and  unscrupulous 
foreign  policy  led  the  king  of  France. 

A.D.  To  crown  his  troubles,  Louis,  who  was  now  a  widower, 
decided  to  marry  a  young  wife,  the  sister  of  Henry  VIII. 
of  England. 

The  Princess  Mary  was  sixteen   years   of   age,  Louis 
XII.  was  fifty-three;  the  marriage  took  place  in  October, 
1515,  and  by  January,  1516,  Louis  was  a  dead  man. 
A.D.        The  French  people  loved  Louis  XII.   sincerely,  and 
lo15  they  mourned  him  greatly.     His  young  widow  bore  her 
loss  meekly,  and  married  again   almost  as  soon  as  she 
could  change  her  clothes  after  the  funeral. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

FRANCIS   THE  FIRST 

"  A  LL  our  pains  are  for  nothing  ;  this  big  boy  will  spoil 
everything,"  Louis  XII.  used  to  say  when  some  inci- 
dent would  clearly  reveal  the  extravagant,  headstrong, 
and  passionate  nature  of  the  next  heir  to  the  throne, 
Francis  of  Angouleme. 

The  "  Old  Regime  "  dates  from  the  accession  of  Francis  A.D. 
I. ;  and  by  that  term  is  meant  the  old  absolute  monarchy 
of  France,  in  which  the  king's  will  was  law  and  the  king's 
power  without  limit.  Of  his  own  good  pleasure  he  could 
make  war  or  peace,  levy  taxes  and  spend  the  money,  issue 
decrees  and  compel  obedience.  He  was  the  State,  uniting 
in  his  person  supreme  power,  executive,  judicial,  and 
legislative. 

For  political  reasons,  a  marriage  had  been  arranged 
between  Francis  and  Claude,  the  daughter  of  the  late 
king  ;  Brittany  was  thus  kept  in  unity  with  France,  and 
the  young  monarch,  who  was  crowned  in  1515,  found  him- 
self, at  the  age  of  twenty,  master  of  a  compact,  united,  and 
powerful  kingdom. 

Francis  I.  was  the  beau-ideal  of  a  knight-errant,  —  tall, 
robust,  handsome,  brave,  polished,  and  open-handed.  In 
all  feats  of  arms  he  was  expert.  In  the  tournament,  in 
the  ball-room,  at  the  festal  board,  and  on  the  battle-field, 
he  was  a  brilliant  figure.  Mentally  he  was  quick  and 

327 


328  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

bright,  but  fickle  and  shallow.  In  principle,  he  was  an 
absolutist,  believing  that  the  king's  will  was,  and  ought  to 
be,  the  supreme  law  of  the  land.  As  to  morality,  he  had 
none,  either  public  or  private. 

He  commenced  his  reign  by  spending  all  the  public 
moneys  he  could  lay  his  hands  on.  Balls  and  feasts  and 
tournaments  followed  each  other  in  brilliant  succession, 
no  expense  being  spared  to  dazzle  the  multitude  by  the 
display  of  royal  splendour.  Pearls  were  showered  on 
loose  women  ;  offices  and  emoluments  on  looser  men  ; 
and  in  frivolous  pageantries  and  personal  pleasures  were 
squandered  sums  sufficient  to  have  opened  canals,  drained 
marshes,  and  educated  the  illiterate  masses. 

Having  emptied  the  treasury  in  riotous  living,  Francis 
applied  the  usual  remedy  ;  he  increased  the  taxes. 

The  vainest  of  mortals  was  Francis,  and  he  thirsted  for 
renown.  Consequently  he  broke  the  universal  peace,  and 
went  to  war.  Invading  Italy,  he  was  fortunate  enough 
to  meet  his  enemies  at  Marignano,  where  his  own  troops 
were  led  by  competent  soldiers,  Tremouille,  Trivulzio, 
Bourbon,  and  Bayard,  and  where  his  enemies  had  no 
leaders  at  all.  The  result  was  a  decided  victory  for  the 
French  —  the  young  king,  of  course,  getting  most  of  the 
credit. 

He  had,  in  fact,  fought  with  great  courage,  and  had 
thus  brought  himself  on  a  parity  with  the  thousands  of 
privates  who  had  done  likewise.  He  received  knighthood 
on  the  field  of  battle  from  the  hands  of  Bayard. 
A-D-  The  Swiss  were  the  foes  Francis  had  met  at  Marignano. 
They  relied  upon  their  close  array,  and  their  pikes  eigh- 
teen feet  long,  and  they  advanced  upon  the  French  artillery 
with  the  utmost  courage.  Thirty  times  in  succession  the 


xxi  FRANCIS  THE  FIRST  329 

French  charged  them  without  checking  their  advance. 
They  seized  the  first  batteries,  and  it  required  the  most 
desperate  efforts  of  the  king  and  all  his  generals  to  save 
the  day.  Night  came  on,  but  the  fight  raged  till  the 
moon  went  down,  and  it  was  too  dark  to  tell  friend  from 
foe.  The  contending  forces  were  all  intermingled,  and  so 
remained  till  daylight  again  made  it  possible  to  know  whom 
to  kill.  Between  nine  and  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the 
French  received  a  reinforcement  of  Venetian  troops,  and 
the  Swiss  retired.  They  did  not  scatter,  they  did  not 
flee,  they  were  not  demoralized ;  they  simply  marched 
back  home,  in  good  order ;  and  the  king  of  France  was 
so  glad  they  were  gone  that  he  soon  afterwards  agreed  to 
pay  them  700,000  crowns  not  to  trouble  him  any  more. 
The  treaty  made  between  Francis  and  the  Swiss  proved 
to  be  permanent.  Swiss  soldiers  fought  and  died  for 
Louis  XVI.  when  that  last  king  of  the  old  French  mon- 
archy did  not  have  the  nerve  to  fight  and  die  for  himself. 

The  victory  of  Marignano  gave  a  brilliant  beginning  to 
the  reign  of  Francis,  and  was  soon  followed  by  a  general 
peace.  The  victor  secured  Genoa  and  the  Milanese,  and 
Tournay  was  redeemed. 

Between  the  French  king  and  the  Pope,  Leo  X.,  a  con-    A.». 
cordat  was  concluded  (1516)  which  overthrew  the  Prag-   1516 
matic  Sanction  of  Charles  VII.     By  the  latter  the  French 
Church  had  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  electing  the  heads  of 
ecclesiastical  bodies ;  had  been  exempt  from  the  annates, 
or  first  year's  revenue,  which  every  appointee  to  an  impor- 
tant benefice  was  obliged  to  pay  to  the  Pope ;    and  had 
stoutly  maintained  its  independence  by  proclaiming  that 
the  decisions  of  general  councils  of  the  Church  were  supe- 
rior to  papal  decrees. 


330  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

By  the  concordat,  the  Pope  secured  the  annates,  and  a 
disavowal  of  the  doctrine  that  the  councils  could  check 
the  papal  decrees ;  the  king  secured  the  right  of  dispos- 
ing of  all  Church  appointments. 

In  this  compact  between  Pope  and  king,  absolutism 
gained  an  immense  advance.  The  Pope  became  absolute 
in  the  exercise  of  spiritual  power  ;  and  the  king  reduced 
to  subjection,  and  dependence  upon  the  royal  favour,  the 
clergy,  who,  until  that  time,  had  enjoyed  the  power  of 
self-government  under  the  Pragmatic  Sanction. 

There  was  a  loud  outcry  in  France  against  the  concor- 
dat, and  the  Parliament  refused  to  register  it.  For  two 
years  there  was  resistance,  but  the  king's  will  prevailed. 

Henceforth,  the  guardians  of  religion  were  to  be  chosen 
by  kings,  who,  in  turn,  would  be  influenced  by  favourites, 
male  and  female,  in  making  the  choice.  It  is  no  wonder, 
then,  that  the  Church  became  so  rapidly  and  thoroughly 
corrupt.  Under  a  system  of  royal  appointment,  a  harlot 
might  influence  the  selection  of  a  bishop,  and  a  bishop  so 
chosen  might  very  naturally  prove  to  be  a  Retz,  a  Mazarin, 
a  De  Rohan,  or  a  Talleyrand. 

The  Parliament  of  Paris,  composed  of  lawyers  who  had 
only  the  power  of  protest,  deserved  well  of  France  upon 
very  many  occasions ;  and  never  more  so  than  when  for 
two  years  it  stood  out  for  the  liberties  of  the  French 
Church. 

In  1516  Francis  I.  published  an  ordinance  in  which  he 
declared  that  his  royal  pastime  had  been  impeded  and 
curtailed  by  certain  lawless  persons  who  had  been  killing 
rabbits,  partridges,  and  pheasants.  He  therefore  decreed 
that  the  punishments  of  fines,  floggings,  banishment,  con- 
fiscation of  property,  penal  servitude  in  the  galleys,  and 


xxi  FRANCIS  THE  FIRST  331 

death  itself,  should  be  inflicted,  according  to  the  flagrancy 
of  the  crime,  upon  all  those  who  should  thereafter,  with- 
out license,  presume  to  kill  game.  To  the  king,  the 
nobles,  and  to  the  proprietors  of  forest  lands,  he  reserved 
the  exclusive  right  of  sporting  upon  their  property. 

The  Parliament  resisted  this  decree  for  twelve  months, 
but  when  the  king  threatened  to  punish  the  members  as 
rebels,  they  yielded. 

These  Game  Laws  became  a  source  of  the  most  intolera- 
ble hardship  to  the  unprivileged  masses  of  the  French 
people,  and  had  much  to  do  with  creating  the  class-hatreds 
which  overturned  the  monarchy. 

Previous  to  the  reign  of  Francis  I.  there  had  been  no 
such  thing  as  a  numerous  court.  The  monarchs  were 
attended  by  their  counsellors,  their  chief  officers,  and  the 
underlings  necessary  to  their  comfort ;  but  no  great  throng 
of  idlers,  parasites,  pleasure-seekers,  professional  flatterers, 
and  office-brokers  hung  about  the  king  and  lived  upon 
the  royal  bounty. 

Previous  to  his  time,  the  feudal  chief  had  lived  in  his 
own  castle,  maintaining  there  the  state  of  a  local  ruler. 
He  sought  the  court  of  the  king  only  when  summoned 
there  for  reasons  of  State.  The  king  had  no  grander  pal- 
ace than  his,  no  wider  forests,  and  no  more  fruitful  fields  ; 
no  train  of  menials  and  vassals  more  loyal  and  devoted. 
Hence  the  noble  nursed  his  pride  and  took  his  pleasure 
in  his  own  dominions. 

But  a  great  change  had  been  coming.  The  policy  of 
the  crown  had  reduced  the  power  of  the  nobles,  while 
advancing  its  own.  The  king  was  slowly  but  surely 
becoming  the  donor  of  all  good  gifts,  and  his  power  became 
the  magnet  which  attracted. 


332  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

When  Francis  I.  ascended  the  throne,  the  time  was 
ripe  for  innovations,  and  the  young  king's  disposition  lent 
itself  readily  to  the  work. 

There  was  about  Francis  a  certain  largeness  of  nature 
which  dazzled  his  contemporaries.  He  loved  to  have 
large  crowds  about  him,  loved  the  display  and  the  noise 
of  large  assemblies,  loved  grand  houses  and  parks,  loved 
large  expenditures,  and  specially  loved  a  large  harem. 
Therefore,  almost  as  a  matter  of  course,  he  drew  around 
him  a  large  number  of  people.  Young  men  came  because 
they  wanted  adventures,  fame,  honours.  Old  men  came 
because  they  wanted  office  or  money. 

Young  women  came  because  the  light  of  so  much  splen- 
dour was  fascinating  ;  besides,  it  was  the  only  place  where 
they  could  meet  the  most  desirable  young  men.  And  the 
old  women  came  because  the  country  home  was  lonesome, 
and  the  girls  needed  duennas. 

No  matter  what  the  motive,  the  fact  is  undeniable  that 
Francis  soon  gathered  about  him  the  most  beautiful 
women  and  the  most  gallant  men  that  France  could  fur- 
nish. Wherever  he  moved,  there  attended  him  a  magnifi- 
cent train,  such  as  had  never  been  seen  before. 

Great  palaces  were  erected,  great  estates  acquired  and 
given  away,  great  banquets  held,  and  great  tournaments, 
lasting  day  after  day,  and  great  festivals,  great  cere- 
monial displays,  and  great  profusion  of  every  sort.  It 
made  the  taxpayers  groan,  but  otherwise  all  went 
merrily. 

Thus  the  court  of  the  French  king  was  formed.  The 
noble  forsook  his  province  to  dangle  at  the  heels  of  his 
royal  master.  His  castle  was  deserted  for  a  room  in  the 
king's  palace,  or  a  mansion  in  Paris  or  Blois.  His  life, 


xxi  FRANCIS  THE  FIRST  333 

as  a  proprietor  of  land,  local  magistrate,  and  provincial 
autocrat,  was  replaced  by  the  laborious  idleness  of  attend- 
ing on  the  king. 

The  times  had  already  arrived  in  France  when  the 
royal  favour  was  sought  by  the  offering  of  wife,  daughter, 
or  sister  as  a  sacrifice  to  the  majestic  lust  of  "  the  Lord's 
anointed." 

In  the  year  1519  Maximilian,   emperor  of   Germany,   A.D. 
died.     The  right  to  choose  his  successor  was  vested  in   1519 
seven  princes  of  the  German   states.     Three  candidates 
announced  themselves  :   Francis  I.,  Charles  of  Austria, 
and  Henry  VIII.  of  England. 

Charles  was  the  grandson  of  Mary  of  Burgundy,  was 
a  German  by  birth,  and,  being  the  grandson  of  the  late 
emperor,  stood  naturally  in  the  line  of  succession. 

Francis  I.,  however,  entered  most  earnestly  into  the 
contest,  and  went  to  buying  votes  with  all  the  zest  of 
a  modern  patriot. 

"  I  will  spend  three  millions  to  be  elected  emperor,"  said 
Francis,  and  into  the  canvass  he  plunged.  He  straight- 
way bribed  four  of  the  electors,  the  archbishops  of  Cologne 
and  of  Treves,  the  Count  Palatine,  and  the  Margrave  of 
Brandenburg. 

When  Charles  heard  of  this,  he  wrote  to  his  agents: 
"  We  are  determined  to  spare  nothing  and  to  stake  all 
upon  it.  The  election  must  be  secured,  whatever  it  may 
cost."- 

Here,  then,  was  a  battle  of  purses  between  the  two 
candidates.  The  crown  of  an  empire  was  to  be  auctioned 
off,  and  the  highest  bidder  would  get  it. 

The  agent  of  Francis  wrote  him,  "  All  will  go  well  if 
we  can  fill  the  maw  of  the  Margrave  of  Brandenburg." 


334  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Francis  answered,  "  I  will  have  him  gorged  at  any 
price." 

Accordingly,  the  margrave  was  given  his  own  price, 
and  the  purchaser  took  a  receipt  for  him  in  due  form, 
which  stipulated  that  the  margrave  should  vote  for 
Francis. 

Those  people  who  are  fond  of  saying  that  human  nature 
is  worse  now  than  formerly  should  read  the  record  of  this 
election  with  care.  The  Margrave  of  Brandenburg,  who 
thus  sold  out,  and  gave  a  bill  of  sale  of  himself,  was  the 
lineal  ancestor  of  the  present  emperor  of  Germany,  the 
marquisate  of  Brandenburg  being  the  nucleus  around 
which  was  built  the  German  Empire. 

One  elector,  only,  scorned  all  bribes.  This  was  Fred- 
erick, Duke  of  Saxony.  Be  his  name  honoured  forever  ! 

Henry  VIII.  of  England  had  dropped  out  of  the 
race,  but  the  rumours  of  all  these  bargainings  for  votes 
rekindled  his  hopes,  and  he  sent  Richard  Pace  into  the 
market  —  supplied,  presumably,  with  ducats.  Richard 
soon  collapsed.  He  found  the  auction  so  far  advanced 
and  the  prices  so  alarming  that  he  abandoned  his  pur- 
pose. 

The  seven  electoral  princes  met  at  Frankfort,  June  17, 
1519,  to  choose  an  emperor.  Charles  had  had  the  fore- 
sight to  gather  an  army  and  station  it  very  near  by,  well 
knowing  the  conservative  influence  of  cold  steel,  while 
Francis  had  trusted  entirely  to  money,  and  had  no  troops 
at  hand.  Charles  was  put  in  nomination  before  the  Diet 
by  the  archbishop  of  Mayence,  Francis  by  the  archbishop 
of  Treves.  Rival  intrigues  were  kept  up,  the  troops  were 
a  clog  to  debate,  and  finally  Frederick  of  Saxony  was 
unanimously  elected,  as  a  compromise.  He  declined  the 


xxi  FRANCIS  THE  FIRST  335 

honour,  made  a  speech  in  favour  of  Charles,  and  Charles 
was  unanimously  elected. 

Francis  I.,  being  an  absolute  king,  was  able  to  indulge 
the  natural  impulses  of  a  defeated  candidate  ;  he  deter- 
mined to  go  to  war  with  his  successful  rival. 

Both  he  and  Charles  were  exceedingly  anxious  to  secure 
the  alliance  of  Henry  VIII.  of  England. 

Francis  strove  to  accomplish  his  purpose  in  his  usual 
high-flown,  gaudy,  and  overdone  way.     He  invited  Henry 
to  a  personal   conference,  and  they  accordingly  met   at    A.D. 
Guines  in  France.     So  lavish  was  the  outlay  of  money   152° 
on  the  occasion,  so  brilliant  the  festivities,  so  rich  the 
raiment  of  the  assembled  nobles,  so  gorgeous  the  trap- 
pings of  royalty,  so  dazzling  the  display  of  ornaments, 
decorations,  jewellery,  and  similar  trumpery,  that  history 
has  named  the  place  of  the  royal  meeting,  "  The  Field  of 
the  Cloth  of  Gold." 

But  with  all  his  elegant  winsomeness,  and  flattering 
courtesies,  Francis  failed  to  captivate  the  jealous  heart  of 
Henry  VIII.  The  boundless  and  reckless  vanity  of  the 
French  king  led  him  into  two  blunders.  One  was  that 
he  and  his  train  eclipsed  in  splendour  Henry  and  his  fol- 
lowers. The  next  was  more  serious;  he  flung  Henry 
to  the  ground  in  a  wrestling-match,  and  the  courtiers 
witnessed  the  feat. 

What  royal  heart  could  forgive  mistakes  like  these  ? 

Henry   embraced    Francis    most    lovingly   at   parting,    A-D- 
assured  him  of  his  unbounded  affection,  and  went  straight- 
way to  Gravelines,  where  he  held  a  quiet  conference  with 
Charles ;    the  upshot  of  which  was  that  Henry  entered 
into  an  alliance  with  Charles,  instead  of  Francis. 

Charles  had  been  subtle  enough  to  let  Henry  outshine 


336  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

him,  and  had  been  cunning  enough  to  give  large  gifts  to 
Cardinal  Wolsey,  and  to  promise  his  support  to  the  car- 
dinal in  his  ambition  to  become  the  next  Pope.- 

Wolsey  being  thus  pleased,  it  was  easy  for  him  to  con- 
vince Henry,  whom  at  that  time  he  controlled,  to  aban- 
don Francis  and  treat  with  Charles.  In  doing  this, 
Wolsey  was  duping  both  himself  and  his  master  ;  Charles 
was  playing  them  false. 

A.D.  Francis,  however,  lost  no  time  grieving  over  his  diplo- 
matic failure.  He  gathered  his  armies  and  opened  the 
war.  Both  in  Spain  and  Italy  he  assailed  his  enemy,  and 
in  both  his  troops  were  routed  and  driven  back. 

Francis  was  on  the  point  of  setting  out  to  take  com- 
mand in  person,  when  a  new  danger  threatened  him. 

The  Duke  of  Bourbon,  constable  of  France,  and  the 
most  powerful  subject,  became  a  traitor,  and  entered  the 
service  of  Charles.  His  crime  was  great,  but  so  was  his 
provocation. 

Charles  of  Bourbon  was  the  last  of  the  feudal  semi- 
sovereigns.  There  was  no  longer  a  bold  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy ready  to  take  up  arms  on  equal  terms  with  his 
king.  There  was  no  longer  a  lord  of  Anjou,  Provence, 
or  Brittany,  holding  revenues  and  privileges  almost  as 
great  as  those  of  the  monarch  himself.  The  crown  had 
crushed  or  absorbed  them  all. 

Charles  of  Bourbon  alone  could  boast  of  such  wealth 
and  such  power  as  made  him  almost  a  peer  of  his  king. 
Throughout  his  immense  possessions  he  levied  taxes  and 
troops,  convoked  the  local  assemblies,  and  appointed  the 
officers  of  justice. 

He  was  four  years  older  than  Francis  I.,  and  was  also 
far  abler.  He  was  an  accomplished  knight,  a  skilful 


xxi  FRANCIS   THE   FIRST  337 

general,  a  proud,  brave,  ambitious,  unbending,  and  hon- 
ourable man. 

In  1509  he  distinguished  himself  at  the  battle  of  Agna- 
dello ;  and  at  Ravenna,  when  Gaston  de  Foix  fell,  the 
troops  clamoured  for  Bourbon  as  his  successor. 

There  was  a  sternness  about  the  duke,  a  haughtiness 
and  proud  independence,  which  prevented  him  from  being 
a  favourite  with  kings.  Louis  XII.  had  said  of  him  :  "  I 
wish  he  was  more  gay,  less  taciturn  ;  still  water  affrights 
me." 

At  the  "Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold,"  Henry  VIII 
had  remarked  the  proud  bearing  and  splendid  train  of 
Bourbon,  and  had  said  to  Francis,  "  If  I  had  a  subject 
like  that  I  would  not  leave  his  head  very  long  on  his 
shoulders." 

It  does  not  appear  that  Francis  himself  distrusted  his 
powerful  subject  or  disliked  him.  On  the  contrary  it 
seems  to  be  the  fact  that  the  two  men  had  the  utmost 
good  feeling  for  each  other.  Francis  had  made  Bourbon 
the  constable  of  the  kingdom,  at  the  very  beginning  of 
the  reign,  and  Bourbon  had  served  with  splendid  ability 
and  loyalty  in  the  Italian  wars.  To  a  very  large  amount 
he  had  advanced  his  own  money  to  pay  the  troops  in  the 
king's  service  at  a  time  when  the  king  himself  was  unable 
to  furnish  the  funds. 

That  the  trouble  between  the  king  and  Bourbon  was 
caused  by  a  woman  seems  to  be  certain. 

Anne  of  France,  who  had  ruled  the  kingdom  during 
the  minority  of  Charles  VIII.,  was  still  in  life.  By 
Peter  II.  of  Bourbon  she  had  one  daughter,  and  this 
daughter,  Suzanne,  was  the  heiress  of  the  elder  branch 
of  the  house  of  Bourbon. 


338  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Charles  of  Bourbon,  the  head  of  the  younger  branch, 
married  Suzanne,  and  thus  united  the  two  branches 
of  the  family.  By  the  marriage  settlement,  in  which 
Louis  XII.  had  taken  great  interest,  all  the  possessions 
of  both  were  to  become  the  property  of  the  survivor. 

In  1517  a  son  was  born  of  this  marriage.  The  de- 
lighted father,  determined  to  make  the  child's  baptism  a 
grand  event,  invited  his  king  to  become  the  godfather, 
and  Anne  of  France  the  godmother. 

Francis  I.,  accompanied  by  his  mother,  Louise  of 
Savoy,  and  a  splendid  train  of  noble  lords  and  ladies, 
repaired  to  Moulins,  where  the  Duke  of  Bourbon  had  a 
magnificent  palace  and  where  he  lived  in  regal  splendour. 

The  wealth  displayed  by  the  duke  on  this  occasion 
astonished  the  king,  and  perhaps  displeased  him.  Five 
hundred  gentlemen,  clad  in  velvet  and  wearing  gold 
chains,  constantly  attended  the  duke.  The  queen-mother 
could  not  hide  her  jealousy,  and  Francis  was  led  to  say 
that  even  the  king  of  France  would  find  it  difficult  to 
make  so  great  a  show  as  Bourbon  was  then  doing. 

The  king  was  governed  by  two  persons,  his  mother 
and  the  Chancellor  Duprat.  Both  were  able,  adroit, 
vindictive,  and  unscrupulous.  Bourbon  had  the  misfort- 
une to  incur  the  enmity  of  Duprat,  also,  at  this  time,  by 
answering  some  overtures  of  the  wily  estate-seeker  by  a 
stern  and  contemptuous  reply. 

In  1521,  when  Francis  needed  four  armies  to  meet  his 
foes,  he  summoned  Bourbon  to  Picardy,  where  the  duke 
promptly  appeared  with  six  thousand  troops  raised  in  his 
own  possessions.  The  king  not  only  passed  over  Bour- 
bon, still  constable  of  France,  in  appointing  commanders 
for  the  three  large  armies  already  in  the  field,  but  in  this 


xxi  FRANCIS  THE  FIRST  389 

army  of  Picardy  itself  gave  to  his  brother-in-law,  Alen- 
9011,  the  command  of  the  advance-guard,  which  belonged 
to  Bourbon  by  virtue  of  his  office. 

This  public  affront,  put  upon  a  high-spirited  man, 
wounded  him  profoundly,  but,  nevertheless,  he  served 
valiantly  in  the  campaign,  and  captured  the  town  of 
Hesdin  by  a  surprise. 

In  1521  his  wife,  Suzanne,  died,  having  confirmed  by 
will  the  settlement  of  all  her  possessions  upon  her  hus- 
band as  stipulated  in  the  marriage  contract  —  her  son 
being  already  dead. 

The  duke  was  thus  left  a  childless  widower. 

The  queen-mother  was  the  next  of  kin  to  the  late 
Duchess  of  Bourbon,  Suzanne,  and  her  heir-at-law.  Be- 
tween her  legal  right  and  the  vast  properties  which 
Suzanne  had  possessed  there  was  nothing  but  the  mar- 
riage settlement,  confirmed  by  the  will. 

The  Chancellor  Duprat  advised  the  queen-mother  that 
the  marriage  settlement  and  the  will  could  be  set  aside  ; 
and  the  great  lawsuit  commenced. 

The  king  himself  joined  his  mother  in  the  litigation, 
and  Bourbon  suddenly  found  himself  on  the  brink  of 
ruin. 

Sued  by  the  king  and  his  mother,  at  the  suggestion  of 
the  chancellor,  before  the  Parliament  which  had  been 
reduced  to  humble  submission  by  the  king,  his  hopes  of 
winning  the  case  could  not  have  been  high,  even  at  the 
beginning. 

Judgment  was  given  against  Bourbon,  and  he  was 
stripped  of  all  the  immense  wealth  which  had  come  to 
him  through  his  wife. 

The  duke  would  have  been  far  advanced  upon  the  road 


340  THE  STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

to  perfect  holiness  if  he  had  not  felt  profoundly  resentful 
of  this  high-handed  outrage.  In  the  eyes  of  all  Europe 
it  appeared  to  be  a  scandalous  robbery. 

Rumour  even  had  it  that  Louise  of  Savoy  hated  Bourbon 
because  he  had  refused  an  offer  of  her  hand  in  marriage, 
saying,  "  I  will  never  consent  to  marry  a  woman  devoid 
of  modesty." 

Louise  was  notoriously  devoid  of  modesty,  and  of  some 
other  things,  and  the  reply  kindled  her  intense  resentment. 

Whether  this  story  be  true  or  not,  the  spoliation  of 
Bourbon  was  accompanied  by  every  circumstance  which 
could  madden  him,  for  Francis  had  long  since  stopped  his 
pay  as  constable,  and  had  never  repaid  the  advances  made 
by  the  duke  to  the  royal  troops  in  Italy. 

Is  it  a  marvel  that  a  proud  feudal  chief  like  Bourbon 
wanted  revenge  ?  Is  it  so  unnatural  that  he  found  it 
impossible  to  serve  longer  a  master  so  ungrateful,  jealous, 
and  unprincipled  as  Francis  I.  ? 

At  any  rate  the  duke  determined  to  quit  the  service 
of  the  French  king,  and  to  enter  that  of  Charles  V.  To 
this  step  he  was  strongly  advised  by  his  mother-in-law, 
Anne  of  France.  In  her  eyes  the  house  of  Bourbon  was 
quite  the  peer  of  the  house  of  Valois,  and  had  quite  as 
much  right  to  contract  alliances  with  foreign  princes  and 
states. 

"  I  do  beg  to  command  you,"  said  this  venerable  daugh- 
ter of  the  great  king,  Louis  XL,  "to  accept  the  emperor's 
alliance.  Promise  me  to  do  so,  and  I  will  die  more  easy." 

She  died  November  14,  1522,  leaving  all  her  posses- 
sions to  the  duke. 

Not  long  afterwards,  terms  were  arranged  between  him 
and  the  emperor.  Henry  VIII.  of  England  was  a  party 


xxi  FRANCIS  THE   FIRST  341 

to  the  treaty,  and  Charles  V.  endeavoured  to  secure  Bour- 
bon's promise  to  acknowledge  Henry  as  the  king  of  France. 
To  this  the  duke  stubbornly  refused  to  agree.  He  was 
ready  to  attack  an  ungrateful  king  who  had  wronged  him 
beyond  endurance,  but  further  he  would  not  go. 

Francis  was  informed  of  the  pending  negotiations  be- 
tween the  emperor  and  the  duke,  and  they  filled  him 
with  alarm.  He  made  earnest  efforts  to  conciliate  Bourbon, 
offering  to  pay  the  moneys  due  him,  and  to  restore  the 
states  of  which  he  had  been  plundered. 

"It  is  too  late,"  answered  the  duke,  and  he  went  his 
way  into  what  historians  call  treason. 

Historians  are  human  —  very.  Louis  XII.,  while  Duke 
of  Orleans,  had  levied  war  against  the  king  of  France, 
time  and  again  —  yet  how  tender  the  historians  are  with 
Louis  XII. !  The  "  Great  Conde,"  in  a  later  reign,  joined 
the  enemies  of  the  French  king,  and  led  Spanish  troops 
against  French  ;  but  the  historians  deal  gently  with  the 
traitor  and  almost  forget  his  crime.  Why  then  is  Bour- 
bon's treason  so  odious  ?  Compared  to  his  provocation, 
those  of  Louis  and  of  Conde  were  puerile.  Bourbon 
was  the  traitor  who,  in  after  years,  as  we  shall  presently 
see,  took  charge  of  a  band  of  German  Lutherans,  which 
swooped  down  upon  Italy,  made  havoc  of  the  Pope's 
wealth,  stormed  the  holy  city  of  Rome,  took  it  and  sacked 
it,  rioted  in  it  for  nine  months,  and  made  the  Holy  Father 
a  prisoner  in  the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo. 

We  suspect  that  herein  lies  the  peculiar  sinfulness  of 
the  treason  of  Bourbon  to  the  orthodox  historians  who 
have  had  charge  of  the  history  of  France. 

The  defection  of  Bourbon  was  a  serious  blow  to  Francis ; 
and,  for  a  while,  the  kingdom  was  in  great  peril. 


342  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

A.D.  The  Spaniards  invaded  from  the  south,  the  Germans 
from  the  east,  and  an  army  of  English  and  Flemings 
penetrated  to  within  eleven  leagues  of  Paris. 

Each  of  these  invading  forces  was  met  by  the  king's 
lieutenants,  and  driven  back. 

In  Italy,  however,  disaster  followed  disaster.  Bonnivet, 
the  French  commander,  was  forced  by  Bourbon  to  retreat. 
A-D-  Bayard,  conducting  the  rear  guard,  was  killed  by  an 
arrow  shot  from  an  arquebuse.  A  nobler  warrior  never 
wore  a  plume.  He  was  gentle,  he  was  pure,  he  was  fear- 
less. By  his  wonderfully  ingenious  defence  of  Mezieres 
in  1521  he  had  saved  France  from  invasion,  at  a  time 
when  there  was  no  army  to  resist  the  invader. 

He  it  was  whose  knightly  soul  and  bearing  had  made 
so  strong  an  impression  even  upon  the  shallow  nature  of 
Francis  I.,  that  he  had  insisted  upon  receiving  knight- 
hood at  the  hands  of  Bayard  on  the  victorious  field  of 
Marignano. 

As  he  now  lay  dying,  his  friends  who  dared  to  remain 
were  joined  by  the  pursuing  enemy  ;  but  there  was  a  hush 
over  all  when  it  was  known  that  it  was  Bayard  —  "  Bayard, 
the  knight  without  fear  and  without  reproach "  —  who 
lay  breathing  his  last. 

The  Duke  of  Bourbon  came  to  him  and  expressed  his 
pity. 

"Have  no  pity  for  me,"  said  Bayard,  "I  die  having 
done  my  duty  ;  but  I  have  pity  for  you,  to  see  you  serv- 
ing against  your  king,  your  country,  and  your  oath." 

The  Marquis  of  Pescara  was  Bourbon's  associate  in 
command  of  the  Spanish  army.  He  came  up,  condoled 
with  the  stricken  hero  in  the  most  touching  words,  and 
ordered  the  Spaniards  to  put  up  a  tent  over  Bayard's 


xxi  FRANCIS   THE   FIRST  343 

head,  and  to  forbid  any  noise  near  him,  so  that  he  might 
die  in  peace. 

The  Spanish  army  followed  up  its  successes,  and  in- 
vaded France,  under  the  lead  of  Bourbon  and  Pescara. 
For  forty  dajrs  Marseilles  was  besieged,  but  the  Span- 
iards retired  before  the  relieving  forces  brought  up  by 
Francis. 

The  French  pursued  the  retreating  Spaniards,  entered 
Italy,  retook  Milan,  invaded  Naples,  and  besieged  Pavia. 

Bourbon,  Pescara,  and  Lannoy  gathered  together  troops    A.D. 
from   all  quarters,  advanced  upon   the  French   army  at   1625 
Pavia,  totally  defeated   it  in  a  pitched  battle,  and  the 
French  king  \vas  taken  prisoner. 

Francis  wrote  his  mother  an  account  of  his  defeat,  and 
in  the  letter  occurred  the  sentence,  "  There  is  nothing  left 
to  me  but  honour  and  my  life  —  which  is  safe."  Hero- 
worshippers  have  condensed,  remodelled,  and  improved 
the  letter  so  as  to  make  it  read,  "All's  lost  but 
honour." 

To  Charles  V.  the  captive  hero  wrote  a  plaintive  appeal, 
far  from  heroic ;  but  Charles  was  quite  unsentimental, 
and  Francis,  not  being  admitted  to  ransom,  was  carried 
to  Madrid,  and  for  about  a  year  was  held  in  captivity. 

Great  was  the  dismay  throughout  France  when  it  was 
known  that  the  French  army  had  been  destroyed  at  Pavia, 
and  the  king  taken  prisoner.  Prayers  were  offered  in 
the  churches,  city  gates  were  closed,  and  chains  stretched 
across  the  Seine. 

The  firmness  and  dexterity  of  two  women,  the  king's 
mother  and  his  sister,  guided  the  government  safely 
through  the  crisis. 

The  clergy  and  the  Parliament  loudly  proclaimed  their 


344  THE   STORY  OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

belief  that  the  misfortunes  which  had  fallen  upon  the 
kingdom  were  due  to  the  toleration  with  which  the 
Lutherans  had  been  treated,  and  to  the  financial  abuses 
of  which  the  government  had  been  guilty.  Reforms  upon 
these  two  subjects  were  demanded.  Vehement  requests 
were  made  that  there  should  be  a  vigorous  torturing  and 
burning  of  heretics.  The  regent,  Louise  of  Savoy,  the 
king's  mother,  resisted  the  demand  for  financial  reform, 
but  granted  the  prayer  against  the  Lutherans. 

She  caused  Jacques  Pavanes,  a  learned  man  whose 
religion  was  his  only  crime,  to  be  burnt  to  death  in  Paris. 
Another  Lutheran,  known  as  the  Hermit  of  Livry,  un- 
derwent a  similar  punishment,  in  front  of  the  cathedral 
of  Notre  Dame,  the  bell  tolling  throughout  the  horrible 
tragedy  in  order  that  a  large  crowd  might  be  drawn  there 
to  witness  the  spectacle,  and  be  intimidated  thereby  from 
favourable  consideration  of  Lutheran  doctrines. 

These  atrocities  had  a  reassuring  influence  upon  the 
dissatisfied  Catholics,  and  they  rallied  loyally  to  the 
regent's  support,  —  not  pressing  the  demand  for  lower 
taxes  and  honester  expenditures. 

To  her  eternal  credit  be  it  remembered,  Marguerite,  the 
king's  sister,  was  bitterly  opposed  to  the  persecution  of 
the  Reformers,  and  more  than  one  of  them  owed  life  and 
liberty  to  her  protection. 

By  his  victory  at  Pavia,  the  German  emperor  had  now 
become  so  powerful  that  his  allies  grew  jealous  of  him. 
Henry  VIII.  and  Wolsey,  being  handsomely  bribed  by 
the  artful  regent,  detached  England  from  the  alliance 
with  Charles  V.,  and  made  a  treaty  with  France.  The 
Pope  likewise  cooled  toward  the  too-powerful  Charles, 
whose  troops  showed  growing  fondness  for  gold  and 


xxi  FRANCIS  THE  FIRST  345 

silver  church-properties,  and  France  gained  a  friend  in 
that  influential  quarter. 

The  regent  also  encouraged  the  Turks  to  attack 
Charles'  Austrian  dominions,  and  opened  negotiations 
with  the  Venetians.  While  strengthening  France  in 
this  manner  by  her  wise  foreign  policy,  the  regent  paid 
off  the  arrears  due  the  survivors  of  the  army,  ransomed 
the  prisoners,  organized  a  new  army,  and  repressed  inter- 
nal disturbances. 

In  fact  this  woman  —  corrupt,  cruel,  and  immoral  as 
she  certainly  was  —  proved  herself  a  far  abler  ruler 
than  Francis  himself. 

Much  of  the  strength  of  the  administration  emanated 
from  the  chancellor,  Duprat,  whose  advice  guided  the 
regent  in  all  affairs  of  State. 

Meanwhile  Francis  I.  was  fuming  and  fretting  in 
confinement.  Charles  wished  to  extort  harsh  terms,  and 
Francis  resisted.  In  substance,  Charles  demanded  that 
the  dominions  of  which  Louis  XI.  had  despoiled  his 
grandmother,  Mary  of  Burgundy,  should  be  restored  to 
him,  her  rightful  heir.  Francis  swore  he  would  die  in 
captivity  before  he  would  dishonour  himself  by  the 
restitution. 

Other  conditions  precedent  to  granting  Francis  his 
liberty  were  also  demanded.  Charles  asked  that  the 
property  of  which  the  king's  mother  had  plundered  the 
Duke  of  Bourbon  should  be  restored  to  him  ;  also  that 
the  Prince  of  Orange  should  be  reinstated  in  the 
dominions  of  which  Francis  had  deprived  him ;  also 
that  a  heavy  ransom  should  be  paid  ;  also  that  Francis 
should  marry  Eleanor,  Charles'  widowed  sister. 

Marguerite,    the   king's    devoted    sister,   visited    him, 


346  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

nursed  him  in  his  sickness,  pleaded  for  him  with 
Charles,  and  secured  better  treatment  for  the  captive  ; 
but  Charles  held  to  his  demands. 

A.D.  Francis,  having  sworn  he  "would  ne'er  consent,  con- 
sented," signed  the  treaty,  made  solemn  oath  to  observe 
it,  and  secretly  filed  with  his  negotiators  an  equally 
solemn  oath  not  to  observe  it. 

He  was  then  escorted  to  the  French  frontier,  exchanged 
for  his  two  sons,  who  were  to  be  held  as  hostages,  and 
landed  on  French  soil.  Mounting  a  splendid  horse  there 
ready,  he  cried  exultantly,  "  Once  more  I  am  a  king," 
galloped  away  without  a  moment's  delay,  and  reached 
Bayonne,  where  his  mother  and  sister  awaited  him.  The 
courtiers  and  the  people  welcomed  him  with  the  wildest 
joy,  and  for  an  entire  year  the  liberated  monarch  lingered 
in  the  southern  provinces,  recuperating  his  health  by  un- 
bridled indulgence  in  every  species  of  dissipation. 

In  the  Treaty  of  Madrid  the  unprincipled  character 
of  Francis  is  strikingly  illustrated  ;  he  callously  left  his 
allies  to  their  fate,  while  Charles,  as  has  been  seen, 
protected  his  own. 

Never  for  one  moment,  however,  had  Francis  meant 
to  observe  the  treaty.  The  very  first  business  he  attended 
to  on  his  return  to  France  was  the  formal  repudiation 
of  the  contract  by  which  he  had  obtained  his  freedom. 

Charles  V.  was  furiously  enraged  against  his  late  pris- 
oner, denounced  him  as  a  liar  and  a  scoundrel,  and  clam- 
orously demanded  that  Francis  should  abide  the  treaty  or 
come  back  to  jail.  Francis  had  no  intention  of  doing 
either ;  but  his  high  chivalric  sense  of  honour  demanded 
that  he  should  take  some  notice  of  Charles'  denunciation, 
and  he  therefore  challenged  the  emperor  to  mortal  combat. 


xxi  FRANCIS  THE   FIRST  347 

To  the  utter  disgust  of  Francis,  Charles  accepted  the 
challenge  and  named  the  time  and  place  for  the  fight, 
whereupon  Francis  dropped  the  subject;  nor  did  he  ever 
afterwards  risk  his  royal  person  in  battle  of  any  sort. 

An  assembly  of  the  notables,  convoked  by  the  king  for 
the  purpose,  formally  declared  that  Francis  had  no  au- 
thority to  cede  French  territory,  and  that  therefore  the 
Treaty  of  Madrid  was  void. 

Later  in  this  year,  1526,  the  Holy  League  for  the  de- 
liverance of  Italy  from  the  Spaniards  was  formed  by 
Pope  Clement  VII.,  the  king  of  France,  the  Swiss,  the 
Venetians,  the  Florentines,  and  Henry  VIII.  of  England. 

The  Duke  of  Bourbon  was  put  at  the  head  of  the  em- 
peror's troops,  and  he  fell  upon  Italy  with  an  army  more 
terrible  to  papal  subjects  than  Goths  or  Vandals  had  ever 
been,  —  for  these  soldiers  of  Bourbon  were  Lutherans  of 
the  most  lawless,  savage,  and  fanatical  type. 

The  manner  in  which  this  army  had  been  originally 
raised  affords  the  highest  evidence  of  the  great  ability  of 
the  Duke  of  Bourbon,  and  of  his  mastery  over  the  will  of 
others. 

Finding  his  position  in  Italy  precarious,  in  1524,  and 
that  the  Spanish  commanders  were  jealous  of  him,  he 
abruptly  abandoned  the  imperial  forces  ;  and  going  to 
Turin,  he  made  a  personal  appeal  to  the  Duke  and  Duchess 
of  Savoy  for  aid  in  raising  an  army  of  his  own.  So  com- 
pletely did  he  win  them  over,  that  they  put  him  in  pos- 
session of  all  their  financial  resources,  —  money  and 
jewels.  Thus  equipped,  he  passed  into  Germany  to  re- 
cruit soldiers  there.  In  a  short  time  he  had  an  army  of 
his  own,  troops  who  would  have  followed  him  against 
either  Francis  or  Charles,  and  who  were  especially  eager 


348  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

to  follow  him  against  the  Pope.  These  soldiers  he  led 
back  into  Italy,  his  second  in  command  being  George  of 
Freundsberg,  an  old  captain  of  the  emperor's  guard,  who, 
being  present  three  years  before  when  Luther  appeared 
before  the  Diet  at  Worms,  had  slapped  the  bold  monk  on 
the  shoulder,  and  said,  "Little  monk,  this  is  a  daring 
step  thou  art  going  to  take  !  Neither  I,  nor  any  other 
captain  of  us,  ever  did  the  like.  If  thy  cause  is  good, 
and  if  thou  have  faith  in  thy  cause,  forward,  little  monk, 
forward,  in  God's  name  !  " 

We  have  already  seen  how  Bourbon,  at  the  head  of 
these  Lutherans  whom  he  had  enlisted  in  Germany,  met 
Francis  at  Pavia  and  wreaked  upon  him  such  vengeance 
as  one  proud  man  rarely  inflicts  upon  another. 

The  bitterest  pang  in  all  that  humiliation  to  Francis 
was  that  Bourbon  had  stricken  him  down. 

On  January  30,  1527,  the  duke  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  his  army  and  moved  upon  Milan.  He  took  it,  held  it 
to  ransom,  and  advanced  upon  Rome,  his  lawless  bands 
plundering  the  country  as  they  went. 

On  March  5,  1527,  he  arrived  before  Rome,  pitched  his 
camp,  and  ordered  the  assault  for  the  morrow.  Address- 
ing his  troops,  he  said  :  — 

"The  great  chances  of  our  destiny  have  brought  us 
here.  Now  is  the  time  to  show  courage  and  valour.  You 
have  marched  over  bad  roads,  in  midwinter,  amid  rain 
and  mud,  snow  and  frost,  hunger  and  thirst,  and  armed 
foes.  You  are  penniless  ;  but  if  you  are  victorious  in 
this  attack  you  will  be  rich.  If  you  fail,  you  are 
ruined. 

"  Yonder  is  the  city  where  in  times  past  a  wise  astrologer 
prophesied  that  I  should  die ;  but  I  swear  to  you  I  care 


xxi  FKANCIS  THE  FIRST  349 

little  for  dying  there,  if  when  I  die  my  name  be  left  with 
endless  renown  throughout  the  world." 

On  the  morning  Bourbon,  clad  all  in  white,  led  his 
troops  to  the  attack.  As  that  gallant  figure  moves  in 
front,  inspiring  every  faint  heart  in  his  own  ranks,  and 
drawing  upon  himself  the  deadliest  fire  of  the  enemy,  one 
cannot  help  but  think  of  another  superb  soldier,  Skobeleff, 
who  in  our  day  electrified  the  world  by  his  brief  brilliant 
career,  and  who,  arrayed  in  spotless  white,  led  the  Rus- 
sians to  such  marvellous  deeds  of  daring  by  the  simple 
words,  "  Get  up,  children,  and  follow  me." 

Bourbon  marched  in  front  close  up  to  the  wall,  put  the 
scaling-ladder  to  it,  and  was  mounting  to  the  assault. 
As  his  foot  touched  the  third  rung  of  the  ladder,  he  was 
shot  down. 

Never  did  his  unbending  nature  show  itself  more  hero- 
ically than  at  this  supreme  moment  when  his  life  was 
going  out.  He  ordered  his  cloak  thrown  over  him  so 
that  his  troops  might  not  know  who  had  fallen,  and  he 
died  thus,  while  his  triumphant  and  devoted  troops  were 
pouring  over  the  walls. 

When  the  soldiers  heard  of  his  death,  which  they  did 
very  soon,  their  fury  was  redoubled.  The  streets  of  the 
Eternal  City  rang  with  the  fearful  cry  of  "  Slay,  slay ! 
Blood,  blood  !  Bourbon,  Bourbon  !  " 

With  no  strong  hand  to  curb  it,  the  lust  of  vindictive    A.D. 
passion,  of  greed,  and  of  carnage,  raged  in  Rome  fiercely   1627 
and  without  restraint.     Every  horror  known  to  war  was 
felt  by  the  miserable  inhabitants. 

During  nine  months  they  were  at  the  mercy  of  a  brutal 
soldiery,  who  felt  justified  in  retaliating  upon  them  every 
outrage  Catholics  had  inflicted  upon  Lutherans. 


350  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

The  Pope  himself  was  a  prisoner,  shut  up  in  the  castle 
of  St.  Angelo. 

In  the  memoirs  of  that  wonderful  artist  and  consum- 
mate knave,  Benvenuto  Cellini,  we  are  told  that  he  fired 
the  shot  which  ended  the  tragic  career  of  the  greatest  of 
the  Bourbons.  The  statement  may  be  true. 

Another  account  is  that  the  sentinel  fired  the  shot,  as 
he  was  running  away  from  his  post. 

Still  another  story  is  that  a  priest  was  the  slayer. 

Whoever  he  was,  the  marksman  interfered  with  some 
interesting  history,  for  there  is  no  doubt  whatever  that 
Bourbon  intended  to  carve  out  for  himself  an  Italian  king- 
dom. He  was  the  idol  of  the  troops,  a  born  leader,  organ- 
izer, and  fighter  ;  he  was  the  ablest  general  of  his  time,  and 
had  he  lived,  history  would  have  been  differently  written. 

The  situation  of  the  Pope  was  pitiable  in  the  extreme. 
His   alliance   with   Francis   I.    had   ruined  him,   ruined 
'Rome,  almost  ruined  Italy. 

And  where  was  Francis  ?  What  was  he  doing  all  this 
while  ?  Why  was  there  no  spur  on  his  heel,  no  helmet  on 
his  head,  no  army  dashing  after  his  white  plume  as  he 
sped  onwards  to  Rome  crying,  "  Rescue  !  " 

Francis  let  his  ally  fall,  and  stirred  no  finger  to  help 
him.  The  king  feasted  and  hunted,  caroused  and  jousted, 
sported  with  men  and  sported  with  women.  Shamefully 
sunk  in  debauchery,  he  let  Charles  V.,  without  hindrance, 
punish  to  his  heart's  content  the  Pope,  whose  only  offence 
was  that  he  had  become  the  ally  of  Francis. 
A.D.  In  1528  Francis  sent  another  army  into  Italy  to  re- 
conquer Naples.  After  some  successes  it  melted  away 
from  disease  and  the  want  of  supplies.  Another  army 
was  sent,  and  met  a  similar  fate. 


xxi  FRANCIS   THE   FIRST  351 

Charles  V.,  however,  could  make  no  headway  against 
the  French  because  Francis  had  made  a  secret  treaty  with 
the  Turks,  and  induced  them  to  assail  the  emperor  on  the 
Austrian  frontier. 

These  various  wars  had  brought  such  extreme  misery 
upon  the  people,  and  the  resources  of  the  king  and  the 
emperor  were  so  nearly  exhausted  that  negotiations  for  a 
general  peace  began.     Two  women  represented  the  two 
monarchs  and  put  an  end  to  the  war  by  the  Treaty  of 
Cambray   (1529).     It  was  called  "The  Ladies'  Peace,"    A.D. 
Francis  having  been  represented  by  his  mother,  Louise  of   1529 
Savoy,  and  Charles  by  his  aunt,  Marguerite  of  Austria, 
the  once-intended  bride  of  Charles  VIII. 

The  peace  they  concluded  forced  Francis  to  abide  by  the 
Treaty  of  Madrid,  with  the  exception  that  he  was  released 
from  his  obligation  to  surrender  Burgundy. 

With  his  usual  perfidy  Francis  left  his  allies  in  the 
lurch,  and  Venice  was  sacrificed. 

Francis  paid  his  2,000,000  golden  crowns  with  the  help 
of  England  and  thereby  ransomed  his  sons.  He  took  to 
wife  Charles'  sister  Eleanor,  as  the  Treaty  of  Madrid 
bound  him  to  do,  and  gave  up  Naples  which  had  cost  so 
much  blood  and  treasure. 

Although  this  Treaty  of  Cambray  was  a  disgrace  to 
the  king  and  a  humiliation  to  his  country,  he  celebrated 
it  by  carousals  and  magnificent  displays,  which  lasted  six 
months. 


CHAPTER   XXII 
FRANCIS  THE  FIRST  (continued) 

TiURING  the  years  which  followed  the  Treaty  of  Cam- 
bray  Charles  V.  turned  his  arms  against  the  Turks. 
With  a  large  fleet  he  attacked  Tunis,  a  nest  of  pirates. 
A-D-  It  was  captured,  and  20,000  Christians  whom  the  pirates 
had  held  in  captivity  were  liberated. 

As  to  Francis  I.  he  followed  the  round  of  his  pleasures, 
allowing  his  mother  and  his  chancellor  to  rule  the  State 
and  pillage  its  treasury.  When  Louise  of  Savoy  died 
(1531)  the  enormous  sum  of  1,500,000  golden  crowns 
was  found  in  her  coffers,  the  fruits  of  her  unrighteous 
greed. .  Duprat,  the  chancellor,  being  a  cardinal,  had 
boundless  opportunities  of  enriching  himself.  He  seized 
upon  the  richest  benefices,  and  thus  rifled  the  Church 
with  one  hand  while  he  plundered  the  State  with  the 
other. 

It  is  related  of  him  that  he  cherished  the  ambition  to 
become  Pope,  and  spoke  to  Francis  about  it.  The  king 
refused  his  support,  saying,  "  Such  an  election  would  cost 
too  much  ;  the  appetite  of  the  cardinals  is  unsatiable." 

"  Sir,"  answered  Duprat,  "  France  would  not  have  to 
bear  the  expense,  I  will  provide  for  it ;  there  are  400,000 
crowns  ready  for  that  purpose." 

"  Where  did  you  get  all  that  money  ?  "  asked  the  king 
dryly,  and  walked  uway.  On  the  morrow  he  seized  to 

362 


CHAP,  xxii  FRANCIS  THE   FIRST  353 

his  own  uses  a  very  considerable  portion  of  the  chancel- 
lor's cash. 

Duprat  grumbled,  deeply  afflicted. 

"  What  does  he  complain  of  ? "  asked  the  king.  "  I 
have  only  done  to  him  what  he  has  so  often  advised 
me  to  do  to  others." 

When  the  chancellor  was  on  his  death-bed,  Francis 
sent  De  Bryan  to  seize  upon  all  his  property.  In  one 
of  the  chancellor's  houses  they  found  800,000  crowns,  in 
another  300,000,  besides  gold  and  silver  plate.  The  king 
took  the  money  and  appropriated  it  to  his  own  use. 

During  the  continuation  of  the  "  Ladies'  Peace," 
Francis  gave  considerable  attention  to  the  erection  and 
embellishment  of  magnificent  palaces,  inviting  Italian 
artists  into  France,  employing  them,  and  rewarding 
them  liberally.  Some  of  the  noblest  architecture  in 
France  dates  from  this  era,  which  is  called  that  of  the 
Renaissance. 

It  became  the  fashion  to  patronize  scholars,  authors, 
men  of  letters,  painters,  sculptors,  and  architects.  Fran- 
cis followed  the  fashion  and  posed  ostentatiously  as  the 
friend  of  culture  and  the  patron  of  learned  men. 

At  this  period  also  a  national  infantry  was  organized, 
and  Brittany,  which  Francis  had  governed  as  duke,  was 
united  to  the   crown  by  a  vote  of  the   Bretons    them- 
selves (1532).     Foreign  alliances   were  contracted,  alii-    A.D. 
ances    most    inconsistent    and    hurtful.      The    Catholic   1532 
King  of  France   entered   into   treaties   with   the    Turks 
and  with  the  Protestant  princes  of  Germany,  with  Henry 
VIII.    of    England,   and   with   James   V.,    the   king    of 
Scotland. 

The  most  fatal  of  all  the  unwise  steps  of  Francis, 

Si  A 


354  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

ever,  was  the  marriage  of  his  son  Henry  to  the  Pope's 
niece,  Catherine  cle'  Medici,  the  abominable  woman  who 
was  so  long  a  curse  to  the  kingdom. 

The  alliance  which  Francis  had  concluded  with  the 
infidels  and  the  Lutherans  gave  great  scandal  to  the 
Catholics  of  Europe,  and  the  orthodoxy  of  the  king  be- 
gan to  seem  doubtful.  His  sister  Marguerite  was  believed 
to  lean  to  the  Reformed  religion,  and  one  of  his  concu- 
bines was  said  to  be  of  the  same  faith.  Francis  felt 
that  he  must  do  something  to  prevent  the  spread  of  these 
doubts  about  his  orthodoxy.  He  therefore  began  a  reli- 
gious persecution,  attended  in  person  the  public  burning 
of  heretics,  actively  took  part  in  the  hideous  ceremony, 
and  loudly  declared  that  he  would  help  burn  his  own  son 
if  he  should  become  untrue  to  the  Catholic  faith. 

Between  November  10,  1534,  and  May  3,  1535,  twenty- 
four  Lutherans  were  burnt  to  death  in  Paris  alone. 
Their  crime  was  that  their  belief  upon  the  subject  of 
religion  differed  from  that  of  the  king  and  the  Pope. 
The  wretched  victims  were  suspended  by  iron  chains  to 
beams  which  were  lowered  into  the  fire  and  then  hoisted 
time  after  time,  so  that  the  agonies  of  this  horrible  death 
should  be  prolonged  to  the  utmost  possible  limit. 

John  Leclerc,  a  wool-carder  of  Meaux,  posted  upon  the 
cathedral  door  a  placard  in  which  the  Pope  was  described 
as  Anti-Christ.  For  this  offence  the  Parliament  of  Paris 
condemned  him  to  be  publicly  whipped  three  days  con- 
secutively. The  sentence  was  carried  out,  and  he  was 
branded  upon  the  head  by  the  hangman.  His  mother 
was  present  and  loudly  applauded  the  punishment.  Ban- 
ished from  Meaux,  Leclerc  went  to  Metz.  There,  on  the 
day  of  a  Catholic  procession,  he  broke  the  images  at 


xxii  FRANCIS  THE   FIRST  366 

whose  feet  incense  was  to  have  been  burnt  by  the  wor- 
shippers. This  so  enraged  the  authorities  that  he  was 
sentenced  to  a  horrible  death.  His  right  hand  was  cut 
off,  his  nose  torn  off,  his  nipples  plucked  out  of  his 
breast,  his  head  confined  in  two  bands  of  red-hot  iron  ; 
and,  while  the  indomitable  man  was  chanting  the  Fifty- 
sixth  Psalm,  in  contempt  of  the  idols  he  had  broken,  his 
maimed  and  bleeding  body  was  thrown  into  the  fire, 
and  his  brave  heart  reduced  to  ashes. 

Peter  Leclerc,  a  younger  brother  to  John,  had  re- 
mained at  Meaux.  He  was  likewise  a  weaver;  and  he 
was  chosen  by  the  weavers  of  Meaux  to  become  the  ex- 
pounder of  the  Scriptures  to  them.  Thus  he  became  the 
first  minister  of  the  gospel  in  France.  A  little  congre- 
gation gathered  about  this  humble  weaver,  and  for  twenty 
years  he  preached  the  doctrines  of  the  Carpenter  of 
Nazareth.  Proselytes  from  the  neighbouring  villages  had 
joined  his  meetings  until  his  flock  numbered  several  hun- 
dred. One  day  they  were  celebrating  the  Lord's  Supper 
(September  8,  1546)  when  the  house  was  surrounded  by 
the  Catholics,  and  nearly  sixty  persons  of  the  congregation 
were  arrested,  —  men,  women,  and  children.  The  Parlia- 
ment of  Paris  condemned  fourteen  of  them  to  be  burnt 
to  death,  on  the  spot  nearest  their  meeting-house;  and 
the  wives  of  the  condemned  men  were  commanded  to  be 
present  at  the  execution. 

The  awful  sentence  was  strictly  enforced. 

Louis  de  Berquin  was  a  man  of  learning,  of  high  char- 
acter, and  considerable  property.  He  had  made  a  study 
of  the  question  of  religion  ;  and,  while  not  a  Lutheran, 
he  was  not  satisfied  with  the  creed  and  the  practice  of 
the  Catholic  Church.  The  great  Erasmus  was  his  friend, 


356  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

and  so  was  Marguerite,  the  sister  of  the  king.  He  did  not 
defy  the  Church ;  on  the  other  hand,  he  observed  its 
ordinances,  rites,  and  ceremonies.  Nevertheless  he  was 
denounced  as  a  heretic,  was  condemned  by  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Paris,  and  after  two  attempts  of  Marguerite  to 
save  him,  he  was  burnt  at  the  stake  in  Paris  April  22, 
1529,  meeting  his  dreadful  doom  with  perfect  heroism. 

Throughout  France  religious  fanaticism  and  clerical 
hate  lit  the  fires  of  persecution.  Hundreds  of  innocent 
men,  women,  and  children  lost  their  lives,  thousands  lan- 
guished in  foul  dungeons,  other  thousands  were  tortured, 
branded,  publicly  flogged ;  and  other  thousands  fled  the 
country  to  escape  the  danger. 

The  eulogists  of  Francis  I.  have  claimed  for  him  that 
he  encouraged  learning  and  protected  scholars.  In  fact, 
more  than  one  scholar  who  had  come  to  France  at  his 
invitation  was  given  over  to  the  malice  of  religious  per- 
secution ;  and,  in  1534,  this  royal  friend  to  learning 
issued  a  decree  abolishing  printing,  "  that  means  of  prop- 
agating heresies. "  No  book  was  to  be  printed  "  on  pain 
of  the  halter." 

Six  weeks  later,  however,  even  Francis  became  ashamed 
of  his  decree,  and  suspended  it. 

At  the  very  moment  when  the  French  monarch  was 
persecuting  to  the  death  every  Reformer  in  France  and 
was  enacting  a  death  penalty  against  any  one  who  should 
print  a  book,  he  was  exerting  himself  to  win  over  the 
Protestants  in  Germany  with  the  cry  of  conciliation  and 
harmony. 

We  have  already  seen  how  Charles  VIII.,  on  his  way 
to  Italy,  hanged  a  Vaudois  by  way  of  prelude.  The 
Vaudois,  sometimes  called  Waldensians,  lived  in  the 


FRANCIS  THE  FIRST  367 

Piedmontese  valleys  of  the  Alps.  They  were  a  simple, 
honest,  pastoral  people,  leading  industrious  lives,  harming 
nobody,  and  paying  their  taxes  with  regularity.  They 
paid  tithes  to  the  Catholic  Church,  but  recognized  no 
authority  save  that  of  the  Scriptures.  In  a  luckless  hour 
for  these  virtuous  people,  they  listened  to  the  Reformers 
of  Germany  and  Switzerland,  who  reproached  them  for 
their  concealment  of  their  faith  and  worship.  For  sev- 
eral centuries  their  religious  creed  had  been  pretty  well 
known ;  but,  as  they  paid  all  accustomed  dues  and  com- 
mitted no  overt  act  against  the  Church,  they  had  not 
been  molested.  They  had  been  happy  in  the  peaceful 
seclusion  of  their  beautiful  valleys. 

As  soon  as  they  formally  separated  from  the  Catholic 
Church,  however,  persecution  began. 

The  king  commissioned  William  du  Bellay,  a  Catholic, 
to  examine  into  the  facts,  and  report.  After  investiga- 
tion, Du  Bellay  reported  that  the  Vaudois  were  honest, 
laborious,  and  charitable  farmers,  discharging  all  the 
duties  of  civil  life ;  but  he  acknowledged  that  they  did 
not  obey  the  Catholic  Church,  did  not  pray  in  Latin,  as 
good  Catholics  should,  but  prayed  in  their  own  vulgar 
tongue,  and  that  they  claimed  the  right  to  choose  their 
own  pastor. 

Francis  issued  a  decree  pardoning  the  Vaudois  for  the 
crimes  above  specified,  upon  condition  that  within  three 
months  they  would  "abjure  their  errors." 

The  Vaudois  humbly  requested  that  these  errors  be 
specifically  named,  but,  strange  to  say,  none  of  the  perse- 
cutors could  do  this ;  they  could  only  repeat  the  threat 
and  condition,  "  Abjure !  abjure  !  " 

The  Vaudois  refused  to  renounce  their  faith,  and,  after 


358  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

some  delays,  due  to  political  reasons,  Francis  I.  launched 
upon  them  the  full  force  of  his  royal  wrath. 

An  army  rushed  upon  the  helpless  farmers  of  the 
valleys,  their  homes  were  burned,  their  fields  ravaged, 
their  families  massacred,  and  their  mountain  streams 
reddened  with  the  blood  of  defenceless  thousands. 
Twenty-two  villages  were  sacked,  763  dwellings  given 
to  the  flames,  3000  persons  murdered,  600  or  700  sent 
to  the  galleys,  many  children  sold  into  slavery. 

The  fruitful  valleys  of  this  unoffending  people  were 
made  a  scorched  and  blackened  desert  —  a  terrible  monu- 
ment to  priestly  hate  and  royal  heartlessness. 

In  1536  Francis  made  another  attempt  to  secure  the 
Milanese.  The  reigning  duke,  Francesco  Sforza,  had 
died  without  heir,  Charles  V.  was  busy  with  the  Turks, 
and  Francis  evidently  believed  that  the  opportunity  was 
too  good  to  be  neglected.  He  seized  Piedmont  and  Savoy, 
but  Charles,  returning  victorious  from  the  Tunis  expe- 

A.D.    dition,   invaded   France.      The   Constable   Montmorency 

1536  checked  the  Spaniards  by  laying  waste  to  the  country, 
and  thus  making  it  impossible  for  the  invaders  to  get 
supplies.  Francis,  in  the  meantime,  had  made  no  head- 
way in  Italy,  and  both  he  and  Charles  were  ready  to 
listen  favourably  when  the  Pope  interposed  and  advised 

A.D.    peace.     The  Peace  of  Nice  was  signed  in  1538,  by  which 

1538   Francis  kept  Savoy  and  Piedmont. 

The  two  royal  enemies  now  became  friends,  and  show- 
ered courtesies  and  expressions  of  good  will  upon  each 
other.  Charles,  desiring  a  short  cut  to  the  Netherlands, 
where  he  had  some  rebellious  taxpayers  to  deal  with, 

A-D-  asked  permission  to  travel  through  France  from  Spain. 
The  French  king  not  only  granted  the  favour,  but  made 


FRANCIS  THE   FIRST  369 

the  journey  a  brilliant  ovation  to  the  emperor,  from  one 
end  of  the  kingdom  to  the  other. 

After  the  emperor  had  put  down  the  insurrection  in 
the  Low  Countries,  Francis  insisted  that  he  should  sur- 
render Milan  to  France  as  he  had  promised  during  the 
journey  so  recently  made. 

Charles,  however,  denied  the  promise,  refused  to  give 
up  Milan  to  France,  and  once  more  hostilities  commenced. 

This   time   Francis,   the   heretic-burner,   acted   openly 
with   Solyman,  the  Turkish  sultan.     Nice  was  captured    ^-D- 
by  a  Turkish  and  French  squadron  —  this  being  the  first 
time,  in  Europe,  that   infidels   and  Christians  had  com- 
bined to  fight  other  Christians. 

Charles  aroused  much  feeling  in  Europe  against  the 
unnatural  alliance  of  Francis  and  Solyman.  He  made 
peace  with  the  German  Protestants,  renewed  his  alliance 
with  Henry  VIII.,  and  France  was  again  invaded. 

Charles  advanced  within  twenty-four  leagues  of  Paris,  A.D. 
took  St.  Dizier,  and  pushed  his  outposts  forward  to 
Meaux.  The  consternation  of  the  Parisians  was  extreme. 
The  richest  of  them  fled  to  Rouen  and  Orleans  for  safety, 
carrying  their  valuables  with  them.  The  roads  were 
crowded  with  vehicles  filled  with  fugitives,  while  bands 
of  robbers  seized  the  opportunity  and  plundered  the 
helpless. 

In  the  midst  of  this  panic,  in  which  Francis  began  to 
fear  that  once  more  he  would  become  Charles'  prisoner, 
news  came  that  Boulogne  had  been  taken  by  Henry  VIII., 
and  that  the  English  were  marching  on  Paris. 

Francis  at  once  decided  to  accept  the  terms  of  peace 
which  Charles  had  already  offered  him,  and  this  ended 
the  fourth  and  last  war  between  the  rival  monarchs. 


360  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Francis  had  nothing  to  show  for  twenty  years  of  war, 
waste,  and  bloodshed  but  the  petty  provinces  of  Piedmont 
and  Savoy.  Everything  else  they  had  contended  for, 
Naples,  the  Milanese,  Flanders,  Charolais,  Artois,  were 
left  in  the  hands  of  Charles. 

The  condition  of  the  French  nation  was  pitiable. 
Many  of  the  nobles  were  impoverished,  trade  was  stag- 
nant, production  paralyzed,  suffering  universal.  The 
people  had  been  plundered  by  friend  and  foe ;  their 
houses  burnt,  their  fields  laid  waste,  their  wives  and 
daughters  subjected  to  insult  and  to  outrage.  The 
provinces  of  Champagne  and  Picardy  had  been  ruined, 
and  their  cities  almost  abandoned.  As  a  crowning  hu- 
miliation the  English  were  in  possession  of  Boulogne  ; 
and  before  he  could  regain  it,  Francis  had  to  pay  Henry 
2,000,000  golden  crowns. 

The  French  king  was  only  fifty-two  years  of  age,  but 
his  body  was  worn  out  with  excesses,  and  his  mind  was 
gloomy  with  disappointment;  he  had  failed  in  everything; 
he  had  beggared  his  subjects,  and  thrown  away  their 
lives  with  reckless  profusion  in  his  selfish,  senseless  wars. 
He  had  kindled  the  flames  of  religious  fanaticism,  had 
sowed  the  seeds  of  bloody  discords,  and  had  drained 
France  of  her  vital  energies  with  the  mad  heedlessness 
of  a  privileged  and  resistless  libertine. 

He  had  lowered  the  standard  of  honour  by  his  perfidies 
in  affairs  of  the  State  ;  the  standard  of  morals  by  his 
shameless  life  in  a  court  in  which  he  almost  made  virtue 
impossible.  He  had  neglected  and  ill-treated  two  faith- 
ful wives,  abandoned  his  best  friends  when  it  suited  him 
to  desert  them,  had  allowed  loose  women  to  rob  the  national 
treasury  and  starve  the  needy  soldiers,  had  despoiled  the 


FRANCIS  THE  FIRST  361 

French  Church  of  its  independence  and  given  it  back  to 
the  abominations  of  court  intrigue,  and  had  crushed  the 
spirit  of  a  generous  and  loyal  people  by  as  frivolous,  de- 
praved, extravagant,  and  callous  an  absolutism  as  ever 
disgraced  the  name  of  government. 

He  died  of  a  shameful  disease,  but  his  loathsome  body 
was  given  a  most  magnificent  burial,  and  renowned  artists 
were  kept  employed  for  years  building  and  decorating  his 
tomb. 

********* 

Every  man  is,  to  a  great  extent,  the  product  of  his 
times  and  the  creature  of  his  environment.  We  should 
not  judge  Francis  too  harshly.  He  should  be  measured  by 
the  standards  which  then  prevailed  ;  he  should  be  com- 
pared with  rulers  who  were  his  contemporaries,  and  men 
who  were  his  associates.  If  he  was  no  worse  than  those 
around  him,  he  should  not  be  singled  out  for  blame.  If 
he  left  the  world  no  worse  than  he  found  it,  he  should 
not  be  lifted  to  any  special  eminence  of  infamy. 

But  even  allowing  all  these  qualifications,  Francis 
should  be  pilloried  into  a  lofty  place  among  worthless, 
harmful,  and  depraved  monarchs. 

He  left  the  social  atmosphere  more  corrupt  than  he 
found  it ;  he  was  more  lustful  than  a  sultan,  and  not  so 
decent ;  his  resplendent  and  disreputable  court  was  main- 
tained at  the  expense  of  the  taxpayers  ;  his  mother  ruled 
him  by  ministering  to  his  evil  passions,  and  her  maids  of 
honour,  chosen  because  of  their  beauty  and  their  com- 
pliant dispositions,  were  known  even  in  that  day  as  "  The 
Light  Brigade." 

Honesty  could  not  flourish  under  such  a  king.  The 
ruler  set  the  example  of  unscrupulous  prodigality,  and 


362  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

others  followed.  The  queen-mother  rifled  the  public  cof- 
fers to  indulge  her  extravagant  tastes.  Armies  melted 
away  because  the  moneys  voted  to  them  had  been  squan- 
dered by  court  favourites.  Soldiers,  serving  under  the  flag 
of  France,  perished  for  want  of  food  and  clothing,  while 
harlots  feasted  and  fattened  upon  the  public  treasury. 

"  What  excuse  can  you  give  for  losing  me  Italy  ?  " 
demanded  Francis,  furiously,  of  the  Marshal  Lautrec,  who 
had  lost  in  a  few  days  all  that  had  been  won  by  the  battle 
of  Marignano. 

Lautrec  replied,  "The  troops  I  commanded,  not  hav- 
ing been  paid,  refused  to  follow  me,  and  I  was  left  alone." 

"  What  !  "  said  the  king  ;  "  I  sent  you  400,000  crowns  to 
Genoa,  and  Semblancy,  superintendent  of  finances,  sent 
you  300,000." 

Lautrec  replied,  "Sire,  I  received  nothing." 

Semblancy  was  summoned,  and  he  said  that  he  had 
delivered  the  money  to  the  queen-mother. 

The  king  immediately  sought  his  mother.  She  denied 
having  received  the  money.  Semblancy  confronted  her 
and  persisted  in  his  statement.  She  then  confessed  get- 
ting the  money,  but  claimed  that  the  treasury  was  in  her 
debt,  and  that  she  had  properly  appropriated  the  fund  to 
the  payment  of  the  debt  due  to  herself. 


A.D.        T^  mother   escaped  with  a  reprimand;    the  minister 
1527 

was  hanged. 

Francis  found  the  taxes  light;  he  left  them  heavy. 
He  found  the  court  composed  of  those  who  held  office  and 
performed  duties  of  State.  When  he  died  the  court  was 
an  immense  gathering  of  the  idle,  the  adventurous,  the 
profligate,  and  the  depraved,  who  swarmed  about  the 
throne  and  feasted  upon  the  public  treasury. 


FRANCIS  THE  FIRST  363 

He  found  the  Church  enjoying  local  self-government ; 
he  left  it  a  dependant  upon  Pope  and  king. 

He  found  a  system  of  government  in  which  the  people 
could  be  heard  through  Parliaments  and  States  General. 
He  cowed  the  Parliament  and  made  it  a  mere  instrument 
of  his  will ;  the  States  General  he  did  not  assemble  at  all. 
Taxes  were  imposed  and  increased  at  his  good  pleasure, 
and  when  there  was  revolt  there  was  cruel  suppression  of 
it  by  the  military.  The  king's  will  was  superior  to  law. 

To  this  point  had  the  encroachment  of  the  royal  author- 
ity been  brought,  not  by  any  force  of  character  possessed 
by  Francis,  but  through  the  subtle  policy  of  a  crafty 
priest,  Anthony  Duprat,  who  used  the  natural  bias  of  the 
king's  selfish  and  aspiring  nature  to  weld  the  Church  and 
the  State  into  a  union  which  should  foster  the  few  in  both 
Church  and  State  at  the  expense  of  the  many. 

The  worst  blot,  however,  upon  the  character  of  Francis 
is  that  he  encouraged  religious  persecution. 

Other  kings  have  been  as  licentious,  selfish,  shallow, 
and  ruinous  to  their  subjects  in  dragging  innocent  hus- 
bands, sons,  and  fathers  into  cruel  wars  to  gratify  a  king's 
caprice ;  but  Francis  left  to  his  country  the  legacy  of  re- 
ligious hate  —  the  most  deadly  and  ravenous  and  insatia- 
ble of  all  hatreds. 

Had  he  taken  the  position  which  Charles  V.  took  at 
first,  and  which  Henry  IV.  took  a  short  time  afterwards, 
and  manfully  said  to  the  priests  that  they  should  not  tort- 
ure and  burn  those  men  and  women  who  claimed  the 
right  to  worship  God  according  to  their  consciences,  the 
bloody  records  of  St.  Bartholomew  would  not  have 
stained  the  history  of  France. 

Prior  to  the  reign  of  Francis,  there  had  been  no  such 


364  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP,  xxn 

thing  as  a  public  debt.  In  1522  he  borrowed  200,000 
livres,  worth  by  our  present  standard  one  million  dollars, 
at  eight  and  a  half  per  cent,  and  thus  originated  the  pub- 
lic debt  of  France. 

It  was  at  Rambouillet,  on  March  31,  1547,  that  Fran- 

1547 

cis  I.  died.  Beside  that  bed  of  death  there  was  a  sinister 
group.  Henry,  soon  to  be  king,  was  weeping  bitterly. 
Catherine  de'  Medici,  seated  on  a  low  stool,  had  her  face 
buried  in  her  hands.  These  two  were  bent  with  grief, 
but  there  were  others  present  who  were  not  mourners. 

There  was  Diana — the  dying  king's  mistress — she  who 
purchased  from  a  base  king  the  life  of  a  condemned  father 
by  sacrificing  her  honour  ;  Diana  was  not  bent  with  grief. 
And  there  was  also  present  the  Count  of  Aumale,  favour- 
ite of  young  Henry.  This  favourite  expected  great  things 
for  himself  when  Henry  should  have  become  king,  there- 
fore he  walked  impatiently  back  and  forth,  from  Henry's 
room  to  the  king's,  and  every  time  he  looked  upon  the 
dying  Francis,  he  muttered,  "The  lady-killer  is  going." 

Under  this  sinister  and  contemptuous  epitaph  we  leave 
the  glittering,  fickle,  shallow,  and  sensual  monarch  to 
rest. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

THE   REFORMATION 

is  a  monarch  upon  whose  kingdom  the 
sun  never  sets.  The  cradle  and  the  grave  are  its 
frontiers,  the  entire  human  race  its  subjects. 

The  mind  of  man  has  not  as  yet  been  able  to  invent 
any  theory,  creed,  or  religion,  which,  being  earnestly  pro- 
claimed, is  met  with  unconditional  and  unanimous  rejec- 
tion. The  more  complete  the  absence  of  proof,  the  more 
fervent  the  voice  of  faith.  In  a  matter  involving  a  bushel 
of  corn  or  an  acre  of  land,  no  person  surrenders  his  liberty 
of  judgment.  Upon  a  question  involving  the  soul's  salva- 
tion for  all  eternity,  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Adam  and 
Eve  accept  the  creed  in  which  they  happen  to  be  born, 
and  give  to  the  most  vital  of  all  subjects  less  examination 
than  they  would  give  to  the  age  of  a  horse  they  are  about 
to  buy.  Tremendous  propositions  in  theology  are  accepted 
without  question,  because  they  are  the  hereditary  beliefs 
in  the  family.  We  take  our  religion  as  we  take  the  family 
lands,  tenements,  and  hereditaments ;  they  belonged  to 
our  father,  and  we  are  the  next  of  kin. 

Most  of  us  are  Christians  because  our  fathers  before  us 
were  Christians.  Upon  the  same  reasoning  your  born 
Turk  is  always  a  Mohammedan,  and  your  born  Buddhist 
devoutly  believes  in  Gautama. 

This  thought  is  enough  to  shame  us  into  active  research 

365 


306  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

and  independent  judgment,  but  it  does  not  do  BO.  We 
pity  the  Turk,  and  wonder  why  Tie  accepts  without  in- 
vestigation everything  his  priests  tell  him. 

The  Christian  churches,  at  first,  had  been  modelled 
strictly  after  the  teachings  of  Christ.  They  were  simple, 
earnest,  consecrated,  unselfish.  Their  ceremonial  was  of 
the  most  primitive  character.  There  was  no  pomp,  no 
parade,  no  elaborate  ritual.  There  was  equality  and 
community  of  goods  among  all  the  congregations. 

With  tremendous  energy  and  courage  the  pioneers  of 
the  new  faith  carried  it  to  all  parts  of  the  earth.  Almost 
before  the  wood  of  the  cross  had  rotted  into  dust,  the 
loyal  apostles  had  obeyed  the  command,  "Go  ye  into  all 
the  world ! "  They  had  toiled  across  deserts,  braved 
stormy  seas,  scaled  mountain  summits,  and  found  pathways 
through  the  trackless  wilderness  to  barbarous  lands.  They 
despised  riches,  ease,  sloth,  and  levity ;  they  courted  the 
stern  duties  of  life,  welcomed  hardships,  scorned  danger, 
and  revelled  in  toil  and  sacrifice. 

All  forms  of  paganism  they  hated,  and  upon  idolatry 
they  waged  relentless  war.  No  beauty,  no  learning,  no 
worth  of  character,  could  save  the  victim  where  Christian 
fanaticism  encountered  and  overthrew  pagan  worship- 
pers. Heathen  libraries,  rich  with  the  garnered  intellect- 
ual treasures  of  a  thousand  years,  were  burnt  as  so  much 
ungodly  rubbish.  Heathen  sculptures,  paintings,  palaces, 
and  temples  were  swept  to  indiscriminate  destruction  by 
the  fierce  zealots  of  the  Christian  faith. 

The  intense  hatred  which  they  bore  to  all  that  savoured 
of  idolatry  and  paganism  was  terribly  illustrated  in 
Egypt,  where  they  furiously  assailed  the  beautiful  young 
priestess  of  the  ancient  faith,  Hypatia,  and,  after  strip- 


MIII  THE   REFORMATION  367 

ping  her  naked,  subjected  her  to  nameless  outrages,  and 
at  last  cut  her  quivering  body  to  pieces  in  the  streets  of 
Alexandria. 

So  pure  was  the  practice  of  the  new  faith  kept,  that 
Christian  soldiers  in  the  Roman  army  refused  to  wear  the 
crowns,  or  chaplet,  won  by  them  in  battle.  Death  was 
preferable  to  any  ceremony,  rite,  or  observance  which 
resembled  image  worship. 

In  course  of  time  the  Christian  Church  became  the 
political  ally  of  the  temporal  power,  and  insensibly  lost 
the  purity  of  its  spirit.  The  churches  became  richer, 
prouder,  and  less  Christian.  Pagan  temples  were  con- 
verted into  churches.  Christian  bishops  began  to  adopt 
the  gorgeous  ceremonial  of  the  pagan  worship.  The 
burning  of  incense,  the  laying  on  of  hands,  the  sprinkling 
with  holy  water,  the  confession  of  sins  to  the  priest,  the 
processions,  the  decoration  of  images,  the  prostrations  be- 
fore the  priest,  are  all  in  their  origin  pagan  observances. 

The  pagans  exhausted  their  art  in  reproductions  of 
Venus  and  Cupid,  mother  and  son ;  Christians  began 
to  exhaust  their  art  in  paintings  of  Mary  and  the  Christ, 
mother  and  son. 

The  pagans  deified  certain  superior  mortals,  and  prayed 
to  them.  The  Christians,  seizing  upon  this  practice  to 
further  conversion,  tried  to  infuse  spirit  into  the  same 
moribund  superstition,  and  began  to  pray  to  men  and 
women,  dead  and  of  reputed  goodness,  calling  them  Saints. 

The  pagans  knelt  before  their  images,  adorned  them 
with  flowers,  burnt  incense  before  them,  lighted  tapers 
about  them,  carried  them  in  processions,  and  made  pil- 
grimages to  them.  The  degenerate  Christians  "began  to 
do  likewise. 


368  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

The  pagan  images  had  a  habit  of  sweating  at  certain 
emergencies,  nodding  at  others,  oozing  blood  at  others, 
and  curing  diseases  at  others.  It  was  not  long  before 
Christian  images  were  found  to  possess  similar  powers. 

The  pagans  kissed  their  images,  and  kissed  the  toe 
of  their  high  priest. 

Not  only  did  the  Christians  adopt  the  pagan  word, 
Pope,  and  install  a  priest  in  his  office,  but  they  also  copied 
the  pagan  custom  of  kissing  his  toe. 

The  pagans  prayed  for  the  dead,  and  believed  in  a 
purgatory.  When  they  became  Christian  the  mass  of 
the  people  discarded  neither  the  custom  nor  the  belief. 

The  pagans  shaved  the  head  of  the  priest,  and  clad  him 
in  vestments  ;  the  Christians  followed  the  same  practices. 

Christianity  having  thus  become  pagan  in  outward 
form,  gradually  lost  its  inner  life.  The  spirit  of  Christ 
no  longer  inspired  it.  Popes,  enthroned  at  Rome,  were 
more  concerned  with  politics  than  with  religion ;  more 
eager  to  acquire  power  than  to  save  souls.  The  dream 
of  Catholic  empire  had  seized  them,  and  they  aspired  to 
erect  anew  the  throne  of  the  Csesars.  Not  that  they 
hoped  to  govern  by  brute  force,  as  universal  monarchs  at 
the  head  of  irresistible  armies ;  but  they  hoped  to  con- 
trol, by  spiritual  sway,  and  by  diplomacy  and  intrigue, 
every  nation  on  earth. 

The  Pope  being  thus  ambitious,  the  Church  sought 
wealth,  offices,  places  of  influence  on  every  hand.  The 
princes  of  the  Church  became  as  worldly  and  as  arrogant 
as  the  princes  of  the  State.  They  led  armies,  they  built 
palaces,  they  lived  dissolute  lives.  Duty  was  almost  a 
forgotten  word.  The  convents  became  hotbeds  of  vice, 
and  selfish  ambition  ran  with  loose  rein  throughout  the 


xxin  THE  REFORMATION  369 

ecclesiastical  establishment.  Ignorance  and  superstition 
were  universal. 

Powerful  and  terrible  as  the  Catholic  Church  was, 
there  had  been  in  some  quarter  of  Europe  in  each  century 
evidences  of  non-conformity,  some  protest  against  her 
devouring  greed,  some  exception  to  her  far-reaching 
tyranny. 

The  Albigenses  and  the  Vaudois,  as  we  have  seen,  held 
religious  views  independent  of  Rome,  but  made  no  war 
upon  the  Church.  The  Church,  however,  was  not  con- 
tent to  let  the  matter  rest  there,  and  she  obliterated  the 
heretics,  giving  their  homes  to  the  flames,  their  bodies 
to  the  grave. 

Within  the  Church  there  had  been  scholars  and  teach- 
ers who  were  shocked  at  the  prevailing  abuses,  and  who 
had  denounced  them  boldly,  to  no  effect.  In  Eng- 
land (1438)  the  wise,  learned,  and  dauntless  Wycliffe  had 
challenged  the  notice  of  the  whole  world  by  his  heroic 
revolt.  He  had  taken  the  side  of  the  people,  had  preached 
to  them  in  the  fields  and  highways  against  ecclesiastical 
corruption,  and  had  advocated  reforms  which  sought  to 
restore  the  Church  to  her  pristine  purity.  The  Church 
did  not  want  attention  called  to  her  need  of  pristine  pur- 
ity ;  Wycliffe  was  tried,  condemned,  and  silenced.  His 
disciples  were  persecuted,  and  the  heresy  of  the  Lollards, 
as  his  followers  were  called,  was  stamped  out  in  blood. 

Thus  ended  the  first  great  attempt  to  reform  the 
Church  from  within  —  Wycliffe  being  a  devout  Catholic. 

It  was  his  translation  of  the  Bible  which  first  gave  the 

common  people  of  England  the  opportunity  to  read  the 

Scriptures.     Before  that  time  it  was  a  sealed   book,  so 

far  as  the  multitude  were  concerned,  for  it  was  written 

2  B 


370  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

in  Latin.  Upon  Wycliffe's  Bible  our  King  James'  ver- 
sion is  largely  founded. 

Wycliffe  was  silenced  and  the  Lollard  heresy  crushed, 
but  the  doctrine  had  taken  wings  and  crossed  the  seas. 
John  Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague,  two  eminent  scholars 
and  ecclesiastics,  became  converts  to  Wycliffe's  teachings. 
Ardently,  and  with  great  effect,  they  attacked  papal 
abuses  and  demanded  reforms.  They  gathered  converts, 
and  a  rebellion  against  Rome  was  seen  to  be  imminent. 
The  Church  acted  with  promptitude  and  vigour.  She  be- 
guiled Huss  to  Constance  to  stand  his  trial  for  heresy, 
granting  him  a  safe-conduct  which  guaranteed  him  against 
harm. 

He  went,  was  tried,  was  condemned,  was  burnt,  and 
his  ashes  thrown  into  the  Rhine  ! 

Jerome  of  Prague  was  also  seized  and  burnt ;  and  thus 
the  second  great  effort  to  reform  the  Church  from  within 
met  disastrous  failure. 

Emboldened  by  success,  the  Church  of  Rome  had  con- 
tinually advanced  her  pretensions  and  her  exactions.  She 
believed  herself  not  only  infallible,  but  invincible.  She 
held  undisputed  sway  over  Spain,  Portugal,  France,  Eng- 
land, Italy,  the  Netherlands,  and  Germany.  She  had  met 
resistance  from  an  emperor  of  this  latter  realm,  and  had 
so  completely  humbled  him  that  he  crept  barefooted  to 
the  castle  gate  of  the  Pope,  and  waited  there  three  days 
in  the  snow,  for  admission  and  pardon. 

At  the  time  whereof  we  write,  the  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ  had  been  almost  wholly  supplanted  by  paganism. 
The  Catholic  Church  was  Christian  in  name  only.  The 
Saints  represented  the  pagan  gods.  The  Lives  of  the 
Saints  constituted  the  favorite  literature  of  the  times,  and 


XXIH  THE  REFORMATION  371 

these  chronicles  were  stuffed  with  childish  fables,  with 
contemptible  lies.  The  Gospels  were  unused.  Devotees 
prayed  to  Saints,  and  relied  upon  "sacred  relics." 
Pious  pilgrimages,  out  of  which  many  scandals  grew, 
took  the  place  of  Christian  duty.  Sins  were  paid  off 
with  money  or  service.  Priests  peddled  pardons  as  freely 
as  merchants  sold  needles  and  linen. 

Of  the  Bible  the  people  knew  next  to  nothing.  The 
few  copies  in  existence  were  shut  up  in  the  convent  libra- 
ries. Humbugs,  frauds,  bogus  miracles,  and  relics 
abounded.  Miraculous  oil  was  common,  portions  of  the 
true  cross  plentiful ;  and  such  objects  as  St.  Anne's  comb 
and  the  Virgin  Mary's  petticoat  were  accessible  to  the 
devout. 

The  pardons  for  sins,  obtained  from  the  Pope,  went  by 
the  name  of  indulgences.  The  price  paid  for  these 
pardons  varied  according  to  the  means  of  the  sinner. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  sixteenth  century  the 
papal  coffers  were  empty.  Two  Popes,  Alexander  VI.  and 
Julius  II.,  had  squandered  the  earthly  funds  committed 
to  their  charge.  The  former  was  the  libertine  Pope  ;  the 
latter  the  warrior  Pope.  Alexander's  illegitimate  chil- 
dren disported  themselves  proudly  at  the  Vatican,  and 
lavishly  spent  the  revenues  which  flowed  in  from  the 
faithful.  One  of  these  sons,  Csesar  Borgia,  became  the 
wonder  and  the  scandal  of  Europe,  and  the  hero  of 
Machiavelli's  famous  book,  "The  Prince." 

This  libertine  Pope  enriched  his  family  out  of  the  papal 
treasures,  bestowing  upon  his  sons  the  territories,  titles, 
emoluments,  and  revenues  of  the  Church.  He  was  a  pro- 
found politician,  an  adroit  manager  of  men,  an  able  and 
fearless  and  unscrupulous  plotter.  It  was  he  who  first 


372  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

arrogated  to  the  papacy  the  right  to  decide  what  books 
the  faithful  should  read. 

During  the  pontificate  of  this  fearfully  wicked  man 
Savonarola  arose  at  Florence,  and  made  the  world  listen 
to  a  fierce  cry  for  reform.  Savonarola  was  a  priest, 
devotedly  attached  to  the  Catholic  Church,  and  with 
never  a  thought  of  rebelling  against  her,  or  of  seceding 
from  her.  His  great  purpose  was  to  purify,  to  reclaim. 
He  denounced  the  ecclesiastical  abuses,  —  licentiousness, 
frivolity,  ignorance,  tyranny,  hypocrisy,  —  and  sought  to 
bring  back  the  ancient  spirit  of  austerity,  simplicity,  self- 
sacrifice,  and  consecration  to  duty. 

At  first  he  met  with  success.  His  burning  zeal  swept 
all  before  it,  —  infected  others,  and  wrought  a  complete 
change  in  Florence.  Houses  of  debauchery  were  closed, 
gambling  ceased,  and  a  penitential  mood  settled  upon  all 
classes.  Gay  and  fashionable  women  publicly  stripped 
themselves  of  their  gaudy  plumage,  —  their  silks,  velvets, 
and  jewels,  —  and  threw  them  down  at  the  feet  of  the 
inspired  monk.  Proud  cavaliers,  scions  of  the  nobility, 
were  suddenly  sobered,  burnt  their  lascivious  books  and 
amatory  verses  in  the  public  square,  and  loudly  proclaimed 
their  change  of  heart. 

One  reform  naturally  leads  to  another.  Savonarola  next 
denounced  the  political  abuses  of  the  reigning  House  of 
Medici.  The  denunciation  was  deserved.  The  rule  of 
the  Medici  was  corrupt  and  autocratic.  The  people  rose 
against  it,  drove  it  out,  and  established  a  republic. 

But  the  reaction  soon  set  in.  The  people  grew  tired  of 
the  rigour  of  virtuous  government.  They  pined  for  the 
good  old  days  of  sin  and  pleasure. 

The  aristocrats  made  common  cause  with  the  Pope,  and 


THE   REFORMATION  373 

Savonarola  was  beaten  down.  Alexander  VI.  excommu- 
nicated him,  and  the  immoral  man  of  the  Vatican  had  the 
moral  man  of  Florence  strangled  and  burnt.  With  the 
death  of  Savonarola  ended  the  third  great  effort  to  reform 
the  Church  from  within. 

Julius  II.,  who  succeeded  Alexander  VI.,  was  more 
of  a  statesman  and  warrior  than  priest.  His  energies 
were  concentrated  upon  the  task  of  extending  the  tem- 
poral power  and  dominions  of  the  Popes.  With  this 
purpose  he  made  and  broke  treaties,  commenced  and 
concluded  wars,  exacted  and  squandered  money. 

At  his  death  the  papacy  owned  a  large  increase  of 
land  and  of  political  influence,  but  it  was  desperately  in 
need  of  ready  money. 

Leo  X.,  the  successor  of  Julius  II.,  therefore  decided 
to  replenish  his  earthly  treasury  by  the  sale  of  "in- 
dulgences." 

"  Go  ye  into  all  lands  and  sell  licenses  to  commit  sin," 
was  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  instructions  which  he 
gave  to  his  commissioners.  By  selling  pardons  to  sinners 
he  hoped  to  fill  the  coffers  of  the  papacy. 

The  right  to  sell  these  indulgences  in  Germany  was 
granted  to  Albert,  the  elector  of  Metz  and  archbishop  of 
Madgeburg.  Albert  and  Pope  Julius  were  to  divide  the 
proceeds,  "share  and  share  alike." 

Albert  appointed  as  his  agent  in  this  unholy  business  A.D. 
a  priest  named  Tetzel,  a  noisy,  impudent,  and  compre-  1517 
hensive  knave. 

Assisted  by  his  brother  monks  of  the  Dominican  order, 
Tetzel  went  up  and  down  throughout  the  land,  selling 
his  pardons.  Every  sinner  was  called  on  to  come  forward 
and  buy  a  pardon  for  his  sins.  If  he  had  no  sins  of  his 


374  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

own,  he  was  urged  to  buy  a  pardon  for  the  sins  of  some 
good  friend,  male  or  female.  Not  only  were  pardons  sold 
for  sins  already  committed,  but  also  for  those  which  the 
purchasers  might  yet  commit. 

It  is  said  that  one  man,  disgusted  at  the  way  Tetzel 
was  scandalizing  the  wise  few,  and  gulling  the  ignorant 
many,  bought  from  the  noisy  rogue  a  pardon  for  a  sin  he 
intended  to  commit.  Having  obtained  the  paper,  he 
waylaid  Tetzel,  beat  him  within  an  inch  of  his  life, 
and  then,  when  arraigned  for  the  offence,  pleaded 
Tetzel's  pardon,  given  in  advance,  and  thus  escaped 
punishment. 

The  historian  Robertson  gives  the  following  as  an 
account  of  the  terms  in  which  Tetzel  and  his  associates 
spoke  to  the  people  when  asking  them  to  buy  these 
indulgences  :  — 

"If  any  man"  (said  they)  "purchase  letters  of  indul- 
gence, his  soul  may  rest  secure  with  respect  to  its  sal- 
vation. The  souls  confined  in  purgatory  for  whose 
redemption  indulgences  are  purchased,  as  soon  as  the 
money  tinkles  in  the  chest,  instantly  escape  from  that 
place  of  torment  and  ascend  into  heaven.  That  the 
efficacy  of  indulgences  was  so  great,  that  the  most 
heinous  sins  would  be  remitted  and  expiated  by  them, 
and  the  person  be  freed  both  from  punishment  and  guilt  ; 
that  this  was  the  unspeakable  gift  of  God  in  order  to 
reconcile  men  to  himself ;  that  the  cross  erected  by  the 
preachers  of  indulgences  was  as  efficacious  as  the  cross 
of  Christ  itself.  Lo  !  the  heavens  are  open  ;  if  you  enter 
not  now,  when  will  you  enter?  For  twelve  pence  you 
may  redeem  the  soul  of  your  father  out  of  purgatory  ; 
and  are  you  so  ungrateful  that  you  will  not  rescue  your 


XXIH  THE  REFORMATION  375 

parent  from  torment?  If  you  had  but  one  coat  you 
ought  to  strip  yourself  instantly,  and  sell  it  in  order  to 
purchase  such  benefits." 

The  same  author,  Robertson,  gives  likewise  a  copy 
of  the  indulgences  sold  to  the  faithful.  It  is  as 
follows :  — 

"May  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  have  mercy  upon  thee,  and 
absolve  thee  by  the  merits  of  his  most  holy  passion.  And  I, 
by  his  authority,  that  of  his  blessed  apostles  Peter  and  Paul, 
and  of  the  most  holy  Pope,  granted  and  committed  to  me  in 
these  parts,  do  absolve  thee,  first  from  all  ecclesiastical  cen- 
sures in  whatever  manner  they  have  been  incurred,  and  then 
from  all  thy  sins,  transgressions,  and  excesses,  how  enormous 
soever  they  may  be,  even  from  such  as  are  reserved  for  the 
cognizance  of  the  holy  See ;  and  as  far  as  the  keys  of  the  holy 
Church  extend,  I  remit  to  you  all  punishment  which  you  de- 
serve in  purgatory  on  their  account ;  and  I  restore  you  to  the 
holy  sacraments  of  the  Church,  to  the  unity  of  the  faithful, 
and  to  that  innocence  and  purity  which  you  possessed  at  bap- 
tism ;  so  that  when  you  die,  the  gates  of  punishment  shall  be 
shut,  and  the  gates  of  the  paradise  of  delight  shall  be  opened ; 
and  if  you  shall  not  die  at  present,  this  grace  shall  remain  in 
full  force  when  you  are  at  the  point  of  death." 

Near  by  where  these  fine  doings  were  in  progress  lived 
a  bull-necked,  high-tempered,  coarse-fibred,  strong-minded 
monk,  named  Martin  Luther.  He  was  the  son  of  poor 
parents,  but  had  received  a  learned  education.  He  was 
an  intense  student  and  an  original  thinker.  He  was  a 
born  rebel  and  reformer.  Against  his  father's  will  he 
had  taken  holy  orders,  and  from  that  time  onward  his  life 
was  "a  battle  and  a  march."  While  in  the  convent  he 
studied  the  Bible  profoundly,  and  soon  began  to  compare 


376  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

its  teachings  with  the  teachings  and  the  practices  which 
were  prevalent  around  him.  The  comparison  started  him 
on  that  road  of  dissent  and  protest  which  finally  led  to 
his  open  rupture  with  the  Church. 

At  the  time,  however,  he  was  an  humble  monk,  a  devout 
Catholic,  a  Doctor  of  Divinity  in  the  university  at  Wit- 
tenberg in  Saxony.  His  mind  was  full  of  doubts,  diffi- 
culties, and  rebellious  questions,  but  as  yet  he  had  said 
nothing  except  to  his  confidential  friends. 

The  conduct  of  Tetzel,  however,  decided  him  in  his 
course.  The  brazen  impudence  and  gross  impiety  with 
which  he  peddled  pardons  around  the  country  was  more 
than  Luther  could  endure. 

On  the  night  of  October  31,  1517,  Luther  walked 
through  the  streets  of  Wittenberg  alone,  and  nailed  to 
the  church  door  a  series  of  propositions,  ninety-five  in 
number,  which  may  be  regarded  as  the  corner-stone  of 
the  Reformation. 

In  substance  these  ninety-five  propositions  set  forth  :  — 

That  true  repentance  for  sin  ends  only  with  life ; 

That  the  Pope  can  remit  no  penalty  which  he  has  not 
imposed ; 

That  no  man  can  be  saved  from  divine  punishment  by 
the  Pope's  pardon ; 

That  the  laws  of  ecclesiastical  penance  should  be  im- 
posed on  the  living  and  not  upon  the  dead  ; 

That  the  Pope  has  no  power  over  the  souls  in  purga- 
tory; 

That  if  the  Pope  can  release  souls  from  purgatory 
he  should  do  so  out  of  pity  and  mercy,  and  not  for 
money ; 

That  sins  are  not  forgiven  without  repentance ; 


XXIH  THE  REFORMATION  377 

That  true  repentance  brings  pardon  from  on  high, 
without  price. 

These  propositions  of  Luther,  enforced  and  expounded 
by  him  in  the  pulpit,  created  an  immense  sensation 
throughout  Germany.  The  soil,  moreover,  was  ready  for 
the  seed.  The  hour  and  the  man  had  at  last  met.  The 
lives,  teachings,  and  works  of  Wycliffe,  Huss,  Jerome, 
Reuchlin,  Hutten,  and  Erasmus  had  prepared  the  minds 
of  men  for  great  changes. 

Erasmus,  especially,  had  wielded  a  powerful  influence 
in  the  direction  of  reform.  Though  a  monk,  he  had  mer- 
cilessly exposed  the  greed,  ignorance,  vice,  and  hypocrisy 
of  the  monks ;  and  bad  preached  the  necessity  for  correc- 
tion of  the  abuses  with  infinite  force  and  persistence.  To 
the  Pope  himself  he  had  carried  his  accusations  against 
the  monks,  fearlessly  arraigning  them  for  the  crimes  of 
kidnapping,  gambling,  drunkenness,  immorality,  and  mur- 
der itself.  He  had  scornfully  exposed  their  false  mira- 
cles, their  forgeries,  their  pious  frauds. 

So  well  had  Erasmus  done  his  work  that  the  common 
saying,  in  after  years,  was  that  "  Erasmus  laid  the  egg  of 
the  Reformation  and  Luther  hatched  it." 

Without  the  work  which  Luther  did  the  writings  of 
Erasmus  would  probably  have  borne  no  more  fruit  than 
those  of  Wycliffe. 

A  corrupt  organization  cannot  be  reformed  from  within. 
There  are  too  many  members  of  it  who  are  interested  in 
keeping  things  as  they  are.  They  combat  changes.  They 
discourage  reformers,  and,  if  need  be,  silence  them. 

It  requires  pressure  from  without  to  compel  any  organ- 
ization to  purge  itself. 

Erasmus  was  a  scholar,  a  thinker,  a  man  of  books,  a  hero 


378  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

of  a  cosy  corner  in  some  dim  and  dusty  library.  He 
was  no  fighter.  He  was  witty,  polished,  lovable,  sound- 
hearted,  and  right-minded ;  but  he  was  not  of  the  stuff  of 
which  martyrs  are  made.  He  was  willing  to  give  his  pen 
and  his  voice  to  the  right  ;  but  he  meant  to  stop  there. 
He  had  no  intention  of  daring  the  stake  or  risking  the 
dungeon.  Give  him  a  warm  hearth,  a  soft  student's  gown, 
a  glass  of  rich  old  wine,  and  Erasmus  would  slay  you 
monkish  Philistines  all  day  —  with  his  pen.  But  if  the 
work  demanded  a  fighter,  a  man  who  would  stoutly  meet 
furious  monks  on  the  streets  and  dare  them  to  their 
worst,  a  man  who  would  draw  down  upon  himself  the 
wrath  of  an  emperor  and  brave  it,  a  man  who  would 
challenge  the  thunders  of  papal  excommunication  and 
laugh  at  them,  —  that  man  was  not  Erasmus,  he  was 
Luther. 

And  after  yielding  to  Luther  unstinted  praise  for 
his  genius  and  his  courage  and  his  devotion  to  the 
cause,  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  he  succeeded  be- 
cause the  political  advantage  in  the  contest  was  on  his 
side. 

The  German  rulers  did  not  particularly  love  the  Popes. 
Papal  arrogance  had  humbled  more  than  one  German 
emperor.  It  had  not  been  forgotten  that  Henry  IV.  had 
been  made  to  stand  barefooted  in  the  snow  for  three  days, 
waiting  till  the  insolence  of  a  Pope  should  be  sufficiently 
gratified  by  a  German  emperor's  humiliation. 

At  Rome,  the  papal  courtiers  made  every  German  a 
butt  of  ridicule. 

In  Germany  itself,  the  heavy  hand  of  papal  exactions 
in  the  way  of  first-fruits,  tithes,  etc.,  lay  with  intolerable 
weight. 


xxin  THE   REFORMATION  379 

There  was  a  universal  feeling  that  Germany  was  sys- 
tematically plundered  to  satisfy  the  rapacity  of  the  court 
of  Rome. 

No  money  ever  came  back  to  Germany  from  Rome  ; 
once  there,  there  it  stayed. 

Hence  the  German  princes,  who  were  almost  indepen- 
dent rulers,  fretted  and  grew  restive  under  the  continual 
drain  of  German  wealth  toward  Rome.  When  the  Church 
took  so  much,  where  was  the  State  to  get  anything  ?  The 
princes  wanted  less  of  German  money  to  go  abroad. 
They  needed  some  of  it  themselves. 

Hence,  when  Pope  Julius  II.,  upon  the  pretence  that  he 
was  in  want  of  funds  to  complete  St.  Peter's  Church  at 
Rome,  began  the  sale  of  indulgences  among  the  German 
people,  and  was  about  to  draw  to  Rome  much  of  the 
loose  cash  of  Germany  in  exchange  for  the  worthless 
bits  of  paper,  the  resentment  of  the  German  nobles  was 
great. 

The  strongest  appeal  which  Luther  made  to  the  princes 
who  supported  him  was  the  plea  in  behalf  of  Germany 
as  against  Rome. 

"  Don't  let  Rome  rob  Germany,"  had,  probably, 
much  more  to  do  with  rallying  the  German  nobles  to 
Luther's  cause  than  all  of  his  ninety-five  propositions  put 
together. 

He  aroused  national  pride  and  national  interest  against 
foreign  exactions  and  foreign  insolence;  and  this  is  the 
chief  reason  why  the  Reformation  succeeded  so  rapidly 
and  so  well  in  Germany. 

The  bulwark  of  Protestantism  in  its  beginning  was  the 
Elector  of  Saxony,  Frederick  the  Wise,  who  had  refused 
the  imperial  crown.  Without  this  tower  of  strength, 


380  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Luther  had  been  lost.  Yet,  that  Frederick  was  not  on 
principle  opposed  to  the  sale  of  indulgences  is  evidenced 
by  the  fact  that  he  himself  had  once  obtained  from  the 
Pope  the  privilege  of  selling  indulgences  in  Saxony,  for 
the  purpose  of  raising  funds  with  which  to  build  a  bridge 
over  the  Elbe. 

It  does  not  enter  into  the  plan  of  this  work  to  follow 
the  Reformation  further. 

Briefly,  we  may  say  that  at  first  Luther  had  no  thought 
of  doing  more  than  putting  a  stop  to  an  abuse.  He 
hoped  to  correct  it  in  the  Church.  The  Pope  was  deaf 
to  reason,  and  proceeded  against  him  in  the  same  spirit 
of  vindictiveness  which  had  pursued  Savonarola,  Huss, 
and  Jerome.  But  times  were  changed.  The  German 
rulers  felt  their  interests  to  be  the  same  as  Luther's. 
When  the  Pope  launched  his  official  bulls  against  Luther, 
the  dauntless  Reformer  could  venture  to  make  a  bonfire 
out  of  such  documents.  Summoned  before  the  young 
German  emperor,  Charles  V.,  he  fearlessly  went,  trusting 
partly  to  a  safe-conduct,  but  more  to  the  known  temper 
of  the  German  nobles. 

Retraction  being  demanded  of  him,  he  refused  to  re- 
tract. The  pious  monks  having  suggested  to  the  emperor 
that  Luther  should  meet  the  fate  of  Huss,  in  spite  of  his 
safe-conduct,  the  German  nobles  showed  such  readiness 
to  draw  weapons  that  the  monkish  proposition  met  no 
favour. 

Luther  was  let  to  go  his  way,  and  the  Reformation  was 
thenceforth  an  assured  fact.  He  lived,  and  he  worked 
many  years.  He  wrote  many  things  he  ought  never  to 
have  written,  held  many  beliefs  that  would  now  shock 
enlightened  people,  and  loved  the  good  things  of 


xxm  THE   KEFORMATION  381 

life  to  an  extent  that  was  emphatically  human.  But, 
after  all  is  said,  Luther  remains  one  of  the  few  mas- 
ter-figures in  the  world's  history.  Judged  by  his 
work,  he  was  great ;  judged  by  his  motive,  he  was  great. 
Like  Mohammed,  he  enjoyed  endless  opportunities  of 
enriching  himself ;  like  Mohammed,  he  died  poor.  He 
gave  as  freely  as  he  received,  and  after  his  death,  his 
wife  was  reduced  to  beg  her  bread  through  the  streets  of 
Wittenberg. 

Luther  was  the  gladiator  of  the  Reformation  ;  Melanc- 
thon  was  its  scholar,  and  Zwingli  its  soundest  theologian. 
Luther  was  so  robust  and  turbulent  and  indefatigable 
that  he  obscured  the  milder  and  quieter  Melancthon  and 
Zwingli ;  but  it  is  worth  noting  that  modern  Protestant 
creeds  are  further  removed  from  Luther  and  Calvin  than 
from  Melancthon  and  Zwingli. 

In  France,  the  teachings  of  Luther  were  favourably 
received  by  a  large  number  of  the  nobles  and  a  still 
larger  number  of  the  people. 

Lefevre  was  the  leader  of  the  Reformers.  His  transla- 
tion of  the  New  Testament  appeared  in  1522.  Having  been 
singled  out  by  the  Sorbonne  for  attack,  he  thought  it 
prudent  to  retire,  first  to  Meaux,  and  finally  to  Strasbourg. 
His  disciple,  Farel,  fled  to  Geneva,  where  he  founded  the 
celebrated  school  of  theology  associated  with  the  name 
of  Calvin. 

The  most  illustrious  of  the  French  Protestants,  how- 
ever, was  John  Calvin.  His  whole  life  appears  to  have 
been  one  long  agony  of  toil,  mental,  physical,  and  spirit- 
ual. He  was  rigorous  with  himself  and  with  others.  He 
was  terribly  in  earnest  in  all  things.  There  was  abso- 
lutely no  levity  in  his  nature.  No  frivolous  thought 


382  THE  STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

could  have  resisted  a  moment  the  fierce  fires  of  his  intense 
mind.  He  was  gloomy,  severe,  concentrated,  intolerant. 
Fleeing  for  his  life  from  Paris,  where  the  Catholics 
wanted  to  burn  him,  he  finally  settled  in  Geneva,  where 
he  burnt  Servetus. 

In  this  city  he  erected  a  theocratic  government,  and 
ruled  the  people  despotically  in  all  matters,  social,  politi- 
cal, individual,  and  collective.  The  people  grew  tired 
of  it  after  a  while  and  forced  him  to  leave  them ;  but  sub- 
sequently they  recalled  him,  and  he  became  their  guide 
and  ruler  during  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

Calvin  was  a  man  of  towering  intellect,  absolute  sin- 
gleness of  purpose,  amazing  force  of  character,  and  un- 
bending will.  Just  as  he  sent  Servetus  to  the  stake,  he 
would  have  gone  himself  rather  than  apostatize. 

Pleasure  was  nothing  to  Calvin.  Duty  was  everything. 
No  flowery  bed  of  ease  had  any  temptation  for  him ;  the 
rough,  the  painful,  the  rigorous  task  was  his  by  prefer- 
ence. Luther  was  warm-blooded,  impetuous,  large-na- 
tured,  open-hearted,  full  of  lusty  life  and  health  and 
human  passion. 

Calvin  was  sternly  repellent,  censorious,  ascetic,  sickly, 
and  unsympathetic.  We  must  respect  Calvin,  but  we 
cannot  love  him.  It  is  singular  that  the  French  nation, 
a  gay,  genial,  sympathetic  people,  as  we  are  told,  should 
have  produced  the  most  saturnine  of  all  the  Protestant 
apostles. 

Calvin  rendered  to  the  Reformation  in  France  the  ser- 
vice of  systematizing  its  doctrine,  and  of  organizing  its 
discipline ;  but  his  bad  health  and  gloomy  mind  had 
much  to  do,  perhaps,  with  formulating  the  most  forbid- 
ding of  all  the  Protestant  creeds.  The  French,  as  a 


xxin  THE  REFORMATION  383 

people,  were  not  drawn  to  the  Reformation,  and  Calvin's 
peculiarly  dark  and  mystifying  doctrines  were  probably, 
to  some  degree,  responsible  for  it. 

The  spirit  of  reform,  once  aroused,  is  difficult  to  check 
or  control.  The  Protestants  found  it  so.  Their  leaders 
had  encouraged  the  masses  to  read  and  think.  The  lower 
orders  were  suffering  many  other  wrongs  besides  those 
inflicted  by  the  Church.  The  temporal  power  bore  down 
cruelly  upon  the  peasants  with  unjust  exactions  of  many 
kinds.  Therefore,  when  Luther  and  his  compeers  chal- 
lenged the  right  of  the  Church  to  oppress  the  people,  the 
people  took  advantage  of  the  situation  to  challenge  the 
right  of  the  State  to  oppress  them. 

There  was  a  great  uprising  of  the  peasants  in  many 
parts  of  Europe.  In  some  places  the  tumult  was  caused 
by  a  handful  of  noisy  demagogues  whose  appeals  were 
made  to  the  basest  passions  of  the  multitude.  The  poor 
were  inflamed  against  the  rich,  and  the  demand  for  an 
equal  division  of  wealth  found  its  usual  favour  in  the 
eyes  of  those  who  had  no  property.  Churches  were 
sacked,  palaces  burnt,  towns  plundered,  and  murders  done 
by  these  wretched  fanatics  before  they  were  in  turn  mur- 
dered by  those  whom  they  wished  to  despoil. 

In  Germany,  where  the  peasant  revolt  reached  the 
largest  proportions,  there  was  much  reason  in  the  demand 
for  reform.  Their  grievances  were  set  forth  with  pa- 
thetic power.  The  people  demanded  the  free  election  of 
the  parish  clergy,  the  appropriation  of  a  portion  of  the 
tithes  to  the  support  of  the  old  and  the  poor.  They 
demanded  the  abolition  of  serfdom.  They  demanded 
that  the  exclusive  right  of  the  nobles  to  hunt  and  fish 
be  abolished,  and  that  the  meadows,  forests,  and  fields 


384  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

be  restored  to  the  ownership  of  the  community.  They 
demanded  that  limits  be  set  to  taxes,  dues,  and  services, 
so  that  they  could  no  longer  be  arbitrarily  increased. 
They  demanded  the  equal  administration  of  justice. 

Surely  this  programme  of  reform  was  not  so  very  wild 
and  unreasonable,  yet  all  the  princes  of  Germany,  sup- 
ported by  the  immense  weight  of  Luther's  endorsement, 
united  to  beat  down  the  peasants  and  to  leave  unredressed 
the  wrongs  of  the  lower  orders. 

With  horrible  cruelty  the  ill-armed  and  unorganized 
peasants  were  butchered  throughout  the  land.  One  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  persons  are  said  to  have  lost  their 
lives  in  the  Peasant  War,  which  brought  upon  Germany 
all  the  horrors  of  civil  strife.  One  writer,  whose  heart 
was  with  the  lower  orders  in  this  fight,  calls  the  peasant 
insurrection  the  "terrible  scream  of  oppressed  humanity." 

The  lot  of  the  defeated  peasants  became  harder  than 
ever  after  the  war  was  over. 

The  Catholics  used  these  disturbances  with  decided 
effect,  in  exciting  in  the  minds  of  the  upper  and  ruling 
classes  a  dread  that  the  Reformation,  if  not  checked, 
would  lead  to  social  anarchy.  In  France,  particularly,  the 
communistic  movements  of  such  men  as  John  of  Leyden, 
Thomas  Miinzer,  Karlstadt,  and  John  Mathieson,  together 
with  the  excesses  committed  by  their  deluded  followers, 
had  a  most  unfortunate  influence  upon  the  mind  of 
Francis  I.  at  the  moment  when  he  appeared  to  be  on 
the  point  of  giving  his  protection,  if  not  his  faith,  to  the 
Protestant  creed. 

After  the  Peasant  War  was  over,  there  yet  remained  a 
long  period  of  turmoil  and  bloodshed,  before  the  Reforma- 
tion was  to  be  allowed  to  work  out  its  mission  in  peace. 


xxni  THE  REFORMATION  385 

The  Thirty  Years'  War  was  to  follow  with  its  immense 
waste  of  wealth  and  life.  From  the  interior  of  Bohemia 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Scheldt,  and  from  the  banks  of  the 
Po  to  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  towns  and  villages  were 
reduced  to  ashes,  harvests  destroyed,  and  great  districts 
laid  waste. 

A  million  men  were  to  die  for  religion  in  Germany, 
just  as  one  hundred  thousand  had  perished  under  the 
atrocities  of  Philip  II.  and  Alva  and  Torquemada,  while 
Catholic  Spain  was  furiously  striving  to  kill  the  Protes- 
tant faith  in  Holland. 

For  nearly  a  century  the  great  contest  went  on.  Popes 
and  kings  fed  the  flames  of  almost  universal  war.  Break- 
ing out  in  the  interior  of  Germany,  it  had  burnt  there, 
year  in  and  year  out,  with  intense  fierceness.  Deeds 
more  savage  were  never  done  since  Adam  died.  The 
sack  of  Magdeburg  by  the  Catholic  general,  Tilly,  even 
now  chills  one  with  horror.  Protestants  were  not  less 
cruel  when  the  day  of  retaliation  was  theirs.  Preachers 
on  both  sides  prayed  fervently  while  the  throat-cutting 
progressed,  and  on  each  side  there  was  a  sincere  convic- 
tion that  the  smile  of  God  rested  on  that  faction,  and  his 
curse  on  the  other. 

Nation  after  nation  had  been  drawn  into  the  struggle 
until  all  Europe  was  more  or  less  engaged.  England, 
too,  was  involved.  The  Peasant  War,  the  Civil  Wars  in 
France,  the  Netherlands  War,  and  the  Thirty  Years'  War 
were  but  so  many  successive  acts  in  the  bloody  drama 
wherein  enthroned  tyranny,  religious  and  secular,  incited 
millions  of  men  to  slay  each  other  on  the  pretence  of 
religion. 

Nowhere  did  the  contest  take  a  deeper  hold  than  in  the 

2  c 


386  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Netherlands  —  that  territory  embraced  within  the  limits 
of  modern  Belgium  and  Holland.  Here  a  few  cities  scat- 
tered through  the  northern  provinces  bore  the  brunt  of 
what  appeared  to  be  a  hopeless  struggle  against  political 
despotism  and  ecclesiastical  tyranny.  The  southern 
provinces  remained,  for  the  most  part,  loyal  to  king  and 
Pope  ;  it  was  in  Holland  that  the  Dutch  Republic  rose, 
through  long  years  of  battle,  to  give  the  modern  world 
the  first  practical  lesson  in  the  arduous  achievement  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty. 

Less  than  two  millions  of  mechanics  and  common  la- 
bourers took  up  arms  against  a  monarch  whose  dominions 
embraced  a  third  of  the  world  as  then  known  ;  and,  under 
the  marvellous  leadership  of  William  the  Silent,  taught 
mankind  how  the  despotism  of  Church  and  State  might 
be  broken. 

William  of  Orange  was  one  of  the  great  nobles  of  the 
German  Empire,  whose  estates  were  vast  and  whose  rev- 
enues were  royal.  At  Brussels  he  lived  with  all  the 
splendour  of  a  king,  and  at  his  hospitable  board  a  con- 
tinuous round  of  sumptuous  entertainment  welcomed  all 
comers,  from  the  emperor  and  his  grandees,  down  to  citi- 
zens in  the  humblest  walks  of  life. 

At  the  early  age  of  fifteen,  William  had  become  the 
confidential  friend  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  after  hav- 
ing served  him  as  page  for  several  years.  Thus  he  was 
reared  in  the^ innermost  circles  of  imperial  favour,  viewed 
from  behind  the  scenes  the  varied  drama  of  international 
politics,  and  learned  to  weigh  the  actual  worth  of  the 
men  and  the  measures  which  were  controlling  Europe. 

When  only  twenty-one,  he  was  made  general-in-chief 
of  one  of  the  imperial  armies. 


xxin  THE  EEFORMATION  387 

It  was  upon  William's  shoulder  that  Charles  V.  had 
leaned  when  going  through  the  ceremony  of  abdication 
at  Brussels;  it  was  by  William's  hand  that  Charles  had 
sent  to  his  brother  and  successor  in  the  imperial  office, 
Ferdinand,  the  insignia  of  the  discrowned  monarch.  It 
was  William  who  had  negotiated  the  treaty  between 
France  and  Spain,  which  Philip  so  anxiously  desired. 

Together  with  the  Duke  of  Alva  he  had  been  selected 
by  Henry  III.  for  the  due  execution  of  the  terms  of  peace. 

It  was  while  residing  in  Paris  as  hostage  that  he  came 
into  possession  of  the  secret  which  changed  the  tenor  of 
his  life. 

Hunting  with  the  king  in  the  forest  of  Vincennes, 
William  and  Henry  one  day  found  themselves  alone,  and 
the  king  began  to  converse  with  the  prince  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  the  grand  design  which  Philip  II.  had  proposed  to 
the  king  through  the  Duke  of  Alva.  Henry  naturally 
supposed  that  William  was  in  the  secret  —  he  being  a 
good  Catholic  and  a  fellow-hostage  with  Alva.  The  king 
proceeded  to  reveal  the  proposed  plan,  which  was  to 
unite  the  energies  and  powers  of  the  two  kings  for  the 
extermination  of  "that  vile  vermin,"  the  heretics.  The 
Netherlands  was  to  be  the  first  object  of  attack,  and  Span- 
ish troops  were  to  be  sent  to  aid  the  faithful  in  crushing 
Protestantism. 

William  of  Orange  had  been  kept  in  ignorance  of  this 
detestable  plot  between  the  kings  of  France  and  Spain, 
but  he  said  nothing  to  disabuse  the  mind  of  Henry,  and 
it  was  his  discretion  in  this  memorable  interview  which 
won  him  the  name  of  William  the  Silent. 

The  king  of  France  had  unwittingly  committed  an 
egregious  error,  for  Orange  was  profoundly  horrified  by 


388  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

what  he  had  heard,  and  determined  to  take  measures  to 
protect  the  threatened  people.  He  had  no  religious  sym- 
pathy whatever  with  the  Reformers,  but  he  could  not,  he 
said,  "  but  feel  compassion  for  so  many  virtuous  men  and 
women  thus  devoted  to  massacre." 

William  had  been  appointed  stadtholder  of  the  prov- 
inces of  Holland,  Friesland,  and  Utrecht,  and  had  re- 
ceived the  confidential  instructions  of  Philip  II.,  who 
trusted  the  prince  as  the  emperor  had  done. 

Philip  II.  desired  William  to  enforce  the  laws  against 
heresy,  comprised  in  the  celebrated  "Edict  of  1550." 

By  the  terms  of  this  edict  no  citizen  was  to  "print, 
copy,  keep,  conceal,  sell,  buy,  or  give  any  book  or  writing 
made  by  Luther,  Calvin,  Zwingli,  or  any  other  heretic, 
nor  break  or  injure  the  images  of  the  Virgin  or  the 
Saints,  nor  to  hold  or  attend  any  meeting  where  heretics 
teach." 

All  lay  persons  were  forbidden  "  to  converse  or  dispute 
concerning  the  Scriptures"  especially  on  any  doubtful  or 
difficult  matters,  or  to  read,  teach,  or  expound  the  Script- 
ures, unless  they  had  studied  theology  and  been  approved 
by  some  renowned  university,  or  to  preach  or  to  entertain 
any  of  the  opinions  of  the  heretics  mentioned. 

It  was  Luther's  opinion  that  a  monk  could  not  sell  a 
divine  pardon  to  the  miscreant  who  was  about  to  commit 
a  vile  crime.  By  the  Edict  of  1550,  it  was  a  crime  to  hold 
the  same  opinion  as  Luther  upon  this  subject. 

It  was  the  opinion  of  Zwingli  that  sacramental  wine 
did  not  become  the  actual  blood  of  Christ  when  a  priest 
said  a  few  words  over  it ;  and  neither  did  a  piece  of 
bread  become  Christ's  actual  flesh.  Zwingli  believed 
that  the  wine  and  bread  were  merely  symbolical  of 


xxni  THE  REFORMATION  389 

Christ's  blood  and  body.  To  agree  with  Zwingli  was 
a  crime  under  the  Act  of  1550. 

But  the  law  against  freedom  of  thought  was  far  more 
sweeping  even  than  this.  No  one  but  an  authorized 
priest  was  allowed  to  read,  teach,  expound,  or  talk  about 
the  Scriptures.  The  cowl  of  the  monk  was  drawn  over 
the  imperial  intellect  of  man,  and  the  monk  was  to  say 
when  and  how  God's  will  should  be  made  known  to  a 
lost  world.  No  matter  how  ignorant  or  depraved  the 
monk  might  be,  the  good  and  the  brave  and  the  gifted 
must  crouch  at  his  feet,  must  let  his  mind  dominate 
theirs,  or  they  were  criminals. 

This  being  the  law,  it  is  important  to  know  the  punish- 
ment prescribed  for  its  violation. 

The  Edict  of  1550  had  only  one  punishment  for  those 
who  disobeyed  it,  —  Death. 

Criminals  who  did  not  persist  in  the  crime  of  heresy 
were  to  be  slain,  the  men  with  the  sword,  the  women  by 
burial  alive  ;  criminals  who  did  persist  were  to  perish  by 
fire. 

Upon  all  those  who  lodged,  entertained,  fed,  clothed, 
or  otherwise  favoured  a  suspected  heretic,  or  one  known 
to  be  such,  the  same  doom  was  pronounced.  Failure  to 
betray  a  heretic  was  punished  in  like  manner. 

Such  was  the  horrible  code  which  Philip  II.  expected 
his  trusted  official,  William  the  Silent,  to  enforce. 

It  is  not  germane  to  this  story  of  France  to  trace  the 
progress  of  the  tragedy  which  dragged  its  slow  length 
along  in  Holland  —  a  tragedy  as  ghastly  as  any  which 
history  records. 

The  part  which  William  the  Silent  acted  in  it  made 
him  one  of  the  world's  foremost  men,  and  he  was  to  the 


390  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

Dutch  patriots  what  Washington  was  in  the  War  of 
American  Independence,  —  the  indispensable  man. 

At  first  a  Catholic  and  a  royalist,  loyal  to  his  Church 
and  his  king ;  then  a  patriot,  resisting  the  despotism  of 
his  Church  and  his  king ;  then  a  Lutheran  and  a  rebel 
determined  to  wrench  Holland  from  the  control  of  the 
Catholic  Church  and  the  Spanish  king :  these  were  the  suc- 
cessive stages  which  marked  the  evolution  of  the  wealthi- 
est Catholic  prince  of  the  empire,  in  the  Netherlands, 
toward  leadership  of  Dutch  tanners,  dyers,  traders,  and 
mechanics  in  their  terrible  struggle  for  home  rule  and 
freedom  of  worship. 

There  never  was  a  man  better  fitted  by  nature  to  enjoy 
a  life  of  elegant  ease  than  the  Prince  of  Orange.  He  was 
a  scholar  of  fine  attainments,  a  courtier  of  unrivalled  grace 
and  skill,  a  diplomat  and  warrior  of  renown,  a  genial 
companion,  an  eloquent  speaker,  and  a  writer  of  rare 
power. 

To  enjoy  to  the  utmost  all  these  advantages  was  in  his 
nature.  No  man  was  ever  more  eminently  fitted  for  the 
upper  walks  of  life,  to  breathe  the  atmosphere  of  refined 
luxury,  and  to  lap  himself  in  the  delights  of  the  epicure. 
To  keep  indefinitely  the  power  and  the  opulence  which 
were  already  his,  nothing  more  was  needed  than  that  he 
should  let  religious  persecution  and  political  tyranny  do 
as  they  liked  with  the  liberties  of  Holland  and  the  lives 
of  heretics. 

Very  nobly  he  took  sides  with  the  weak  against  the 
strong  ;  very  nobly  he  gave  himself,  his  ease,  wealth, 
station,  and  life  to  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious  free- 
dom. It  was  a  great  renunciation  of  honours,  of  peace, 
of  security,  of  riches,  of  pleasures.  The  regal  palace  in 


XIIH  THE  REFORMATION  391 

Brussels  and  the  royal  revenues  were  abandoned  for  a 
citizen's  simple  life  in  an  humble  house  in  Delft.  The 
favour  of  the  most  powerful  king  on  earth  was  surren- 
dered for  the  leadership  of  his  own  people  in  a  struggle 
which  appeared  desperate,  and  which  was  certain  to  bring 
to  him  infinite  toil,  sacrifice,  and  danger. 

For  very  many  years  William  the  Silent  was  matched 
in  mortal  combat  with  the  forces  of  Philip  II.,  and  with 
marvellous  skill  he  held  the  great  king  at  bay.  Alva 
might  come  and  slay  and  burn ;  Parma  might  come  and 
slay  and  burn ;  William  the  Silent  was  no  match  for 
either  in  the  field,  and  yet  they  utterly  failed  to  subdue 
him.  Dealing  with  crafty  men,  William  was  himself 
crafty.  Dealing  with  men  who  would  deceive,  William 
would  himself  deceive.  Pitted  against  men  who  set  spies 
upon  him,  William  set  spies  on  them.  In  the  very  cabi- 
net of  Philip  II.  a  spy  did  service  for  William.  Every 
despatch  which  Philip  patiently  wrote  or  revised,  if  it  in 
any  way  concerned  the  Netherlands,  was  copied  by  Cas- 
tillo, the  confidential  secretary  of  Philip,  and  sent  im- 
mediately to  William.  Thus  Philip's  great  foe  knew  all 
of  Philip's  plans,  knew  how  to  thwart  them.  Castillo's 
crime  was  at  last  discovered,  and  the  spy  was  pulled 
apart  by  four  horses. 

With  all  the  Catholic  powers  of  Europe  against  him, 
William  struggled  with  Washington's  courage,  Wash- 
ington's stubbornness,  Washington's  unbending  determi- 
nation to  win  in  spite  of  strong  foes  and  weak  friends. 
William  fought  for  loftier  principles  than  those  involved 
in  Washington's  struggle.  Freedom  of  conscience  and 
liberty  of  worship  had  already  been  achieved  long  before 
the  War  of  American  Independence,  and  to  no  man's  hero- 


392  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

ism  are  we  more  deeply  indebted  for  those  treasures  than 
to  William  of  Orange. 

To  this  holy  cause  he  not  only  sacrificed  his  fortune, 
but  his  life.  Philip  II.  could  not  crush  him  otherwise, 
and  he  compassed  his  assassination. 

But  the  deeds  of  the  great  live  after  them  ;  William 
had  so  deeply  planted  the  tree  of  religious  and  political 
liberty  that  Philip  II.,  with  all  his  strength,  could  not 
pluck  it  up. 

The  struggle  he  had  inaugurated  and  so  long  sustained 
did  not  die  with  him.  It  continued  and  it  succeeded. 
Mingled  with  the  pangs  of  death  to  Philip  II.,  when  a 
foul  and  fatal  disease  had  laid  him  low,  was  the  conscious- 
ness that  he  had  utterly  failed  in  the  Netherlands.  He 
knew  that  heresy  was  intrenched  there  beyond  his  power 
to  dislodge  it ;  he  knew  that  political  independence  there 
was  practically  achieved,  and  that  its  recognition  was 
but  a  question  of  time. 

The  Dutch  Republic  was  the  herald  of  the  great  up- 
ward movements  of  the  masses  which  have  so  moulded 
the  destinies  of  nations.  Under  the  grandson  of  Will- 
iam the  Silent,  England  accomplished  her  revolution  of 
1688,  whereby  her  civil  liberties  were  won  ;  and  the  in- 
spiration of  the  example  set  in  Holland  nerved  the  Amer- 
ican statesmen  at  a  later  day  when  their  own  people 
resisted  tyranny. 

At  the  close  of  the  struggle  came  the  peace  of  West- 
phalia (1648),  which  ended  the  drama,  and  each  religion 
recognized  that  the  other  was  not  to  be  battered  down 
with  cannon. 

That  the  Reformation  succeeded  to  the  extent  it  did 
was  owing  to  the  causes  already  stated.  That  it  failed 


xxiir  THE  REFORMATION  393 

to  do  more  was  due  to  the  dissensions  among  the  Protes- 
tant leaders,  angry  controversies  over  differences  of  creed, 
and  the  revolutionary  spirit  it  aroused  among  the  masses 
—  to  the  terror  of  the  ruling  classes.  The  reaction  aris- 
ing from  these  causes  was  powerfully  reenforced  by  the 
aroused  energies  of  the  menaced  Church.  The  Jesuits, 
fearless  and  tireless,  went  to  work  in  all  countries  to 
counteract  the  reform  movement.  The  horrors  of  the 
Inquisition  frightened  it  out  of  Spain  and  crippled  it  in 
France.  Bloody  persecution  checked  it  in  Germany, 
Belgium,  and  Switzerland.  Last  but  not  least  of  the 
causes  of  her  preservation,  the  Church  made  common 
cause  with  European  kings  against  the  spirit  of  democ- 
racy which  was  embodied  in  the  religious  revolt.  "  Sup- 
port me,"  said  the  Pope,  in  effect,  to  princes,  potentates, 
and  powers,  "else  the  overthrow  of  the  Church  will  be 

• 

the  prelude  to  the  overthrow  of  the  State."  Thus  the 
altar  and  the  throne  united  to  preserve  their  power,  and 
to  a  great  extent  the  union  succeeded. 


A.D. 

1547 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

HENRY   THE  SECOND 
(1547-1559) 

TTENRY  II.  had  none  of  his  father's  geniality  of  dis- 
position, none  of  the  magnetism,  brilliancy,  grace, 
and  dash  which  has  ever  thrown  a  certain  radiance  around 
Francis  I. 

Henry  was  cold,  formal,  and  dull,  though  at  heart  he 
was  not  more  selfish,  more  callous,  nor  more  cynical  than 
his  suave  and  courtly  father  had  been. 

There  was  a  great  rush  of  the  courtiers  for  offices, 
honours,  and  pensions  at  Henry's  accession. 

In  a  few  weeks  the  treasure  which  Francis  had  accu- 
mulated for  the  German  war  he  contemplated,  was  gone. 
The  Guises,  and  the  old  Constable  Montmorency,  and 
their  favourites  got  the  lion's  share. 

The  mistress  of  the  young  king  was  Diana  of  Poitiers 
—  she  who  had  served  Francis  in  the  same  capacity,  and 
for  many  years  she  was  more  powerful  than  the  nominal 
queen. 

While  Henry  II.  was  still  enjoying  the  festivities  at- 
tendant upon  his  accession  to  the  throne,  a  revolt  occurred 
in  Guienne,  caused  by  an  arbitrary  increase  of  the  salt- 
tax.  The  people  of  Guienne  contended  that  they  were 
exempt  from  this  tax  by  ancient  privilege.  Francis  I. 
had  disregarded  the  privilege  and  enforced  the  tax.  The 

394 


CHAP,  xxiv  HENRY  THE   SECOND  395 

people  rose  against  it,  and  Francis  had  marched  against 
them  with  his  army.  Unable  to  resist  further,  the  peo- 
ple had  humbled  themselves  and  prayed  pardon.  Francis 
handsomely  forgave  them  for  being  ill-humoured  on  ac- 
count of  an  illegal  tax,  and  let  them  off  with  a  fine  of 
200,000  francs.  The  illegal  tax,  of  course,  was  left  in 
force ;  and,  just  before  his  death,  Francis  had  increased 
it.  The  spirit  of  dissatisfaction  again  spread,  and  led  to 
the  revolt  already  mentioned.  The  peasants,  goaded  to 
madness,  broke  out  into  deeds  of  lawlessness.  The 
director-general  of  the  salt-tax  was  slain,  and  two  of  his 
collectors  were  beaten  to  death  and  their  bodies  thrown 
into  the  river.  "  Go,  wicked  salt-taxers,  and  salt  the  fish 
of  the  Charente,"  cried  the  infuriated  mob  as  they  cast 
the  dead  men  into  the  stream. 

When  tidings  of  these  things  reached  the  king,  his  A.D. 
wrath  was  great.  That  the  tax  itself  was  illegal  did  not  1548 
enter  into  the  consideration  of  the  matter  at  all.  That 
the  people  had  a  second  time  objected  to  paying  it  was 
an  aggravation  of  the  offence,  and  the  old  Constable 
Montmorency  declared  that  the  rebels  ought  to  be  ex- 
terminated and  replaced  by  a  new  variety  of  people  alto- 
gether. The  king  intrusted  the  constable  with  the  task 
of  bringing  the  offenders  to  proper  punishment.  Gath- 
ering up  a  force  of  mercenary  soldiers,  mere  professional 
cut-throats,  Montmorency  marched  into  Guienne,  direct- 
ing his  movement  upon  the  city  of  Bordeaux,  the  centre 
of  the  revolt. 

As  soon  as  the  insurgents  learned  that  the  army  was 
coming,  a  panic  ensued.  They  were  in  no  condition  to 
offer  resistance  ;  they  had  not  organized  any  rebellion,  or 
dreamt  of  any  armed  collision  with  their  king.  They  had 


396  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

simply  given  way  to  an  ungovernable  fit  of  passion  pro- 
voked by  the  tyranny  of  the  tax  as  well  as  its  hardships 
—  the  long  wars  and  great  expenditures  of  Francis  having 
reduced  the  peasants  to  a  condition  of  extreme  misery. 

The  people  of  Bordeaux,  trembling  with  fear,  and 
eagerly  ready  to  make  submission,  and  to  give  satisfac- 
tion for  the  crimes  which  a  few  hotheads  had  committed, 
sent  a  delegation  to  meet  the  constable  to  tender  him  the 
keys  of  the  city,  and  to  invite  him  to  come  down  the 
river  to  Bordeaux  upon  a  boat  which  the  anxious  peni- 
tents had  magnificently  equipped  for  his  accommodation. 

"  Away  with  your  keys  and  your  boat,"  cried  the  con- 
stable violently;  "  I  have  other  keys  here  with  which  I 
mean  to  make  entrance  into  Bordeaux,"  and  he  pointed  to 
his  cannon. 

Following  up  his  brutal  threat  he  advanced  upon  the  un- 
happy city,  battered  a  breach  in  its  walls,  entered  with 
his  army,  and  inflicted  upon  the  helpless  citizens  all  the 
rigours  of  the  war. 

The  three  men  who  had  beaten  the  tax-collectors  to 
death  were  burnt.  "  Go  ye,"  cried  Montmorency  to  them, 
"and  grill  the  fish  of  the  Charente  which  ye  salted  with 
the  bodies  of  your  king's  officers,  rabid  hounds  that  ye 
are." 

Two  of  the  ringleaders  of  the  revolt  were  broken  on 
the  wheel,  wearing  upon  their  heads,  the  while,  red-hot 
crowns  of  iron.  One  hundred  and  forty  other  persons 
were  put  to  death  in  various  ways,  and  more  than  a  hun- 
dred were  publicly  whipped. 

One  hundred  and  twenty  of  the  citizens  were  made  to 
dig  up  with  their  fingers  the  corpse  of  the  director-gen- 
eral who  had  been  murdered. 


xxiv  HENRY  THE   SECOND  397 

Ruinous  fines  were  laid  upon  the  town  council,  the  local 
parliament,  and  the  wealthy  citizens.  Even  the  towers  of 
the  public  buildings  were  stripped  of  their  bells  and  their 
clocks.  The  inhabitants  of  the  city,  in  mass,  were  com- 
pelled to  assemble  and  fall  upon  their  knees  in  the  streets 
and  to  beg  for  mercy  and  pardon. 

Montmorency  was  at  length  satisfied  that  the  spirit  of 
the  people  was  sufficiently  chastened,  and  he  withdrew. 
This  was  in  1548 ;  next  year  King  Henry  sold  to  the  peo- 
ple of  Guienne  the  almost  complete  abolition  of  the  salt- 
tax  for  200,000  crowns  of  gold. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  Stephen  de  la  Boetie  wrote 
the  eloquent  treatise  against  monarchy  and  tyranny  which 
has  kept  his  name  in  honoured  remembrance. 

The  younger  nobles  of  France  had  been  greatly  dissatis- 
fied with  the  last  treaty  of  peace  concluded  between 
Charles  V.  and  Francis. 

The   emperor,   having  won   the  victory   of   Miihlberg 
(1547)  over  the  German  Protestants,  was  now  all-power- 
ful in  Spain,  Italy,  and  Germany.     But  he  had  aroused 
the  jealousy  and  distrust  of  the  German  princes,  and  they 
were  ready  to  betray  him.     Maurice  of  Saxony,  one  of  his    A.D. 
generals,   turned   suddenly  against   him,  and  came  near   1552 
making  him  a  prisoner  at  Innsbruck. 

A  deputation  from  these  discontented  princes,  headed 
by  the  Count  of  Nassau,  visited  Paris,  and  urged  Henry 
II.  to  invade  the  Netherlands,  and  secretly  informed 
him  that  certain  of  the  German  towns  were  ready  to 
open  their  gates  to  him. 

The  ardour  of  the  younger  nobility  carried  the  day,  and 
France  again  went  to  war  with  Charles  V. 

The   cities   of   Metz,    Toul,  and   Verdun,  threw  open 


398  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

A.D.    their  gates  to  the  French  king,  and  the  German  emperor 

0      made  a  signal  failure  in  his  effort  to  retake  them.     He 

retired  from  Metz,  after  a  two  months'  siege,  completely 

baffled,  saying,  "  I  see  that  Fortune  is  like  a  woman  ;  she 

prefers  a  young  king  to  an  old  emperor." 

A-D-  Although  his  army  captured  and  destroyed  the  impor- 
tant fortress  of  Therouanne  soon  after,  the  advantage  of 
the  campaign  remained  with  the  French. 

The  war  dragged  its  weary  length  along,  without  im- 
portant results  upon  either  side  for  some  time  longer,  and 
then  everybody  grew  tired,  and  peace  was  made. 

France  retained  the  cities  she  had  taken,  and  continued 
to  hold  them  until  the  German  war  of  1870. 
-*•»•  Charles  V.,  worn  out,  disappointed,  and  diseased,  resigned 
his  sceptre  and  retired  to  the  monastery  of  Yuste  in  Spain 
to  nurse  his  gout  and  his  superstition,  and  his  son  Philip 
II.  succeeded  him. 

The  French,  at  the  instigation  of  the  Pope,  who  accused 

Charles  V.  of  attempting  to  poison  him,  broke  the  treaty 

A.D.    of  peace   (1557),  recommenced  the  war,  and  suffered  a 

557   terrible  defeat  at  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards  before  St. 

Quentin. 

"  Is  my  son  at  Paris  ?  "  inquired  Charles  V.  in  his  her- 
mitage, when  the  news  of  Philip's  great  victory  was 
brought  to  him.  So  crushing  had  been  the  French  defeat 
that  Paris  would  probably  have  fallen  had  Philip  marched 
promptly  upon  it. 

But  Philip  had  no  dash  ;  the  golden  moment  passed, 
and  while  the  brave  Coligny,  behind  flimsy  defences  at 
St.  Quentin,  held  the  entire  Spanish  army  in  check  for  two 
weeks,  France  was  gathering  her  resources  for  a  desperate 
resistance. 


KIT  HENRY  THE   SECOND  399 

The  man  who  had  so  brilliantly  defended  Metz,  the 
Duke  of  Guise,  was  hastily  summoned  from  Italy  to 
defend  France.  He  was  appointed  commander  of  all  the 
forces  and  was  given  powers  almost  unlimited.  He  rose 
to  the  occasion  superbly.  Making  a  dash  at  Calais,  A.D. 
which  the  English  had  held  for  210  years,  he  captured  1558 
it,  to  the  immense  astonishment  of  the  good  folks  of 
both  England  and  France,  who  had  considered  it  a  settled 
fact  that  the  place  was  impregnable.  Thus  at  one 
stroke  he  inspired  the  French,  and  dispirited  the  Span- 
iards and  their  English  allies. 

The  loss  of  Calais  so  afflicted  that  amiable  person, 
Bloody  Queen  Mary  of  England,  that  she  worried  herself 
to  death  about  it.  "Open  my  heart,"  said  she,  "and 
Calais  will  be  found  written  on  it." 

The  Duke  of  Guise  followed  up  his  success  by  taking 
several  other  very  important  towns  and  cities,  and  the 
scales  of  war  were  once  more  considerably  in  favour  of  the 
French. 

Peace  was  made,  —  the  secret  motive  being  to  unite  the 
two  royal  houses  of  France  and  Spain  in  a  grand  crusade 
against  Protestantism.  The  failure  of  Philip  to  invade 
France,  after  the  signal  victory  of  St.  Quention,  can  only 
be  explained  by  events  which  occurred  afterwards.  His 
whole  being  was  wrapped  up  in  the  design  to  become 
the  crowned  hero  of  Catholicism,  commissioned  by  God 
and  the  Pope  to  extinguish  heresy.  To  this  controlling 
purpose  of  his  life  all  others  were  subordinated.  He 
knew  that  in  order  to  succeed  he  must  have  the  co- 
operation of  the  Catholic  kings  of  France.  It  would 
never  do  to  waste  the  strength  of  Catholic  Spain  in  con- 
stant strife  with  Catholic  France.  They  must  be  united, 


400  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

and  thus  united  they  must  put  down  heresy.     Such  was 
Philip's  plan,  and  as  soon  as  he  could  gain  the  confidence 
of  Henry  II.  and  his  advisers,  the  war  was  stopped. 
A.D.        By  the  published  terms  of  the  treaty,  France  retained 
'   her  conquests  of  Calais,  Boulogne,  Metz,  Toul,  and  Ver- 
dun, but  gave  up  189  towns  and  cities  in  Italy,  Flan- 
ders, and  Corsica ;   and  Philip  II.  was  to  marry  Henry's 
daughter. 

Festivities  ensued  at  Paris,  —  dancings,  f eastings,  and 
tournaments.  King  Henry  II.,  taking  part  in  the  tour- 
nament, was  mortally  wounded  near  the  close  of  the  last 
day,  by  a  splinter  from  the  lance  of  his  antagonist,  the 
Count  of  Montgomery. 

This  was  June  29,  1559. 

During  the  brief  reign  of  this  monarch  he  had  put  to 
death  ninety-seven  persons  for  the  crime  of  not  being 
Catholics.  He  had  attended  the  burning  of  one  of  these 
wicked  people,  and  had  apparently  derived  much  mental 
and  spiritual  comfort  from  the  sight. 

At  the  very  time  when  he  was  profiting  by  Protestant 
help  in  the  Netherlands,  he  was  closing  the  schools  and 
the  churches  to  the  Protestants  in  France,  by  the  Edict  of 
Chateaubriant,  and  was  speeding  the  willing  feet  of  per- 
secution by  securing  to  informers  one-third  of  the  prop- 
erty of  their  Protestant  victims. 

To  play  truant  is  an  expression  still  used.  Origi- 
nally it  referred  to  the  "  hedge-schools  "  established  in  the 
rural  neighbourhoods,  to  escape  the  tyranny  of  the  Catho- 
lics in  the  cities,  and  to  play  "  truant  "  meant  to  go  to  the 
country  school. 

The  splendid  revival  of  learning  and  of  art  progressed 
rapidly  during  the  reign  of  Francis  I.  and  Henry  II. 


xxiv  HENRY  THE   SECOND  401 

The  gloomy  castle  was  replaced  by  the  graceful  palace, 
and  the  interior  decorations  were  carried  to  an  elaborate 
and  artistic  finish  which  have  never  since  been  surpassed. 

The  French  kings  and  nobles  were  enraptured  by  the 
splendour  of  the  fine  arts  which  they  had  seen  in  Italy, 
and  Italian  architects,  engineers,  painters,  and  sculptors 
were  employed  to  reproduce  in  France  the  glories  of  their 
native  land. 

Scholars  were  never  held  in  higher  esteem  than  during 
this  universal  reawakening  of  the  human  mind.  They 
were  courted  by  kings  and  wielded  vast  influence.  When 
Erasmus  produced  a  book,  the  event  was  of  international 
importance;  his  thought  carried  weight  in  three  kingdoms 
—  England,  France,  and  Germany. 

A  monarch  so  haughty  as  Henry  VIII.  thought  it  no 
loss  of  dignity  to  enter  the  lists  with  Luther  in  theologi- 
cal dispute. 

Francis  I.  made  his  court  warm  with  welcome  to  men 
of  genius  and  of  scholarly  renown,  himself  dabbled  in 
verse,  and  could  boast  of  a  sister  whose  love-tales,  none 
too  chaste,  have  come  down  to  our  own  times  and  found 
readers  among  millions  of  people  who  never  heard  of 
Francis  himself. 

The  chains  of  servitude  were  being  broken  in  all  spheres 
of  thought  at  the  very  time  that  political  absolutism  was 
being  more  firmly  riveted. 

In  the  Church  the  flames  of  revolt  were  burning  in  all 
civilized  lands.  Red-hot  iron  was  driven  through  the 
tongue  of  the  free-thinker,  and  his  body  roasted  over  slow 
fires,  but  the  mind  had  won  a  glimpse  of  liberty,  and  the 
spirit  of  resistance  to  superstition  and  dogma  was  not 
to  be  quelled. 


402  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAJ-. 

In  literature,  dead  languages  and  antique  methods  were 
challenged,  and  the  monopoly  they  had  enjoyed  was  giv- 
ing way  to  living  tongues  and  modern  forms. 

Rabelais,  veiling  his  meaning  under  fantastic  symbolism 
and  colossal  burlesque,  had  seemed  to  mock  at  the  reli- 
gious impostures  of  the  times,  and  to  condemn  with  sweep- 
ing satire  the  greed  and  incapacity  of  both  Church  and 
State. 

Montaigne's  "  Essays  "  appeared — a  distinctly  modern 
work  in  its  thought  and  expression ;  the  ancient  sacred 
mystery-plays  were  put  aside,  and  the  first  drama,  in  its 
modern  form,  was  written  by  Jodelle,  and  acted  before 
Henry  II.  in  1552. 

In  science,  discoveries  were  made  ;  Plato  began  to  en- 
croach upon  Aristotle,  and  in  surgery  Ambroise  Pare  had 
the  temerity  to  deny  that  boiling  oil  was  the  best  oint- 
ment for  gun-shot  wounds,  and  that  burning  was  better 
than  ligatures  to  stop  the  blood  of  severed  arteries. 

The  activity  in  all  departments  of  mental  work  was 
hearty  and  exultant,  and  in  the  exclamation  of  Ulrich  von 
Hutten  we  catch  the  true  feeling  of  men  of  letters  of  that 
day:- 

"  Oh,  age  !  letters  flourish,  the  minds  of  men  are  re- 
awakened ;  it  is  a  joy  to  be  alive ! " 

A.D.        Henry  II.  was  succeeded  by  his  oldest  son,  Francis  II., 

1559   a  frail  and  sickly  boy  of  sixteen,  who  was  ruled  by  his 

uncles  through  his  wife,  the  beautiful  Mary  of  Scotland. 

The  country  at  this  time  was  impoverished  by  war 
and  the  treasury  empty.  Disbanded  soldiers  infested  the 
highways,  living  by  pillage  and  committing  all  sorts  of 
outrages.  The  court  was  divided  into  three  parties. 
The  first  was  composed  of  the  king's  two  uncles,  the 


xxiv  HENRY  THE   SECOND  403 

Duke  of  Guise  and  the  cardinal  of  Lorraine,  represent- 
ing and  leading  the  whole  body  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
They  were  supported  also  by  the  Pope  and  by  Philip  II., 
king  of  Spain.  Controlling  the  young  king  through 
their  niece  Mary  of  Scotland,  the  Guises  were  the  actual 
rulers  of  France. 

The  second  party  was  headed  by  the  Admiral  Coligny. 
Having  adopted  the  Reform  faith,  he  became  the  recog- 
nized chief  of  the  Protestant  cause,  its  counsellor  in 
peace,  its  leader  in  war,  its  guide,  its  fortress,  its  hope. 
Acting  with  him  were  the  Prince  of  Conde,  a  far  less 
weighty  man,  and  the  Constable  Montmorency,  who  sided 
with  the  Protestants  at  first  because  of  his  jealousy  of  the 
Guises.  The  king  of  Navarre,  Antoine  of  Bourbon,  who 
had  been  dispossessed  of  his  kingdom  by  Philip  II.  of 
Spain,  was  the  nominal  head  of  the  anti-Guise  party,  but 
he  was  a  vacillating  person  and  amounted  to  little. 

The  third  party  was  the  weakest  of  all  —  that  of 
Catherine  de'  Medici,  the  queen-mother.  Her  policy  it 
was  to  play  off  each  of  the  above  parties  against  the 
other,  preserving  to  herself  a  balance  of  power  between 
them. 

In  pursuance  of  this  programme,  she  was  first  for  Guise 
against  Coligny,  then  for  Coligny  against  Guise,  but  ever 
and  always  for  Catherine. 

Much  odium  has  been  heaped  upon  this  woman.  She 
bears  one  of  the  blackest  names  in  history.  That  she  was 
perfidious  is  shown  by  the  very  nature  of  her  policy  ;  but 
perfidy,  of  the  sort  which  succeeds,  is  one  of  the  rare 
accomplishments  of  statecraft  and  diplomacy.  That  she 
was  fertile  in  resource  and  possessed  of  political  ability  is 
shown  by  her  triumph  in  steering  her  fortunes  through 


404  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

all  the  contending  ambitions  of  rival  parties,  and  staying, 
more  or  less,  on  top  all  the  while. 

Apparently  she  had  no  faith  in  the  adage  that  persecu- 
tion cannot  put  down  opinion.  She  acted  as  though  she 
thought  that  persecution,  piled  on  heavily  enough,  would 
crush  its  victims.  And  it  is  certain  that  Protestantism, 
which  failed  in  France,  owed  its  failure  chiefly  to  this  fat 
Italian  woman  who  looked  impassive,  but  who  had  deadly 
claws. 

The  doctrines  of  the  Reformation  had  made  great  head- 
way in  France,  and  at  this  time  one-tenth  of  the  popula- 
tion, it  is  estimated,  were  Protestants.  The  Catholics 
were  very  restive  under  the  threatened  loss  of  power  and 
wealth,  and  clamoured  for  the  Inquisition. 

This  institution  causes  generous  souls  to  shrink,  even 
now,  when  they  think  of  it.  The  sudden  and  arbitrary 
arrests,  the  dark  and  noisome  dungeons,  the  stretching  of 
the  victim  upon  the  rack,  and  the  pulling  of  arm  and  leg 
out  of  socket  to  enforce  confession  ;  the  final  punishment 
of  burning  at  the  stake,  or  of  boiling  slowly  in  oil,  or  of 
binding  the  naked  wretch  upon  the  horrible  wheel,  which 
bristled  with  hungry  iron  teeth,  and  beating  his  body 
until  it  was  mere  bloody  pulp,  —  leaving  it  there  to  rot, 
—  these  were  the  terrors  of  the  Inquisition.  One  hun- 
dred thousand  men  and  women  perished  under  them  in 
Spain,  Portugal,  and  the  Netherlands. 

In  Portugal,  Italy,  and  Spain  the  Inquisition  not  only 
halted  the  march  of  the  Reformation,  but  stamped  it  out. 
As  an  engine  of  repression  it  was  fearfully  effective.  Its 
methods  were  cunning,  secret,  untiring,  ruthless.  It  was 
backed  by  all  the  power  of  the  State  ;  it  was  inspired  by 
all  the  zeal  of  the  Church.  To  fall  into  its  hands  was 


xxiv  HENRY  THE  SECOND  405 

almost  inevitable  ruin,  for  if  the  guilt  of  the  accused  could 
be  established  by  proof,  he  need  expect  no  mercy  ;  and  if 
proofs  were  lacking,  he  was  tortured  with  such  diabolical 
ferocity  that  few  men  could  resist  the  temptation  to  con- 
fess in  order  to  escape  the  agony. 

Bad  men  abused  it  to  get  rid  of  enemies ;  and  there  is 
no  doubt  whatever  that  many  a  good  Catholic,  male  or 
female,  owed  fearful  deaths  to  the  malice  of  personal  foes 
who  took  advantage  of  the  Inquisition  to  strike  them 
down.  Neither  is  there  any  doubt  that  the  priests,  in 
charge  of  the  awful  machinery  of  the  Inquisition,  abused 
their  resistless  influence,  and  prostituted  it  to  the  vilest 
purposes  —  extorting  from  men  and  from  women  conces- 
sions and  submissions  which  only  the  fear  of  what  would 
befall  them,  if  they  provoked  priestly  wrath,  could  drive 
them  to  make. 

Henry  II.  had  attempted  to  legalize  the  Inquisition  in 
France,  but  the  lawyers  of  the  Paris  Parliament  had 
utterly  refused  to  register  the  decree.  They  were  Catho- 
lics to  a  man,  but  they  had  no  idea  of  letting  a  secret 
council  of  monks  darken  all  France  with  the  horror  of  so 
bloody  a  tribunal  as  the  Inquisition. 

The  Guises  were  determined  to  revive  the  question,  and 
to  crush  heresy. 

Among  the  first  acts  of  the  new  reign  was  the  murder 
of  Du  Bourg,  one  of  the  most  eminent  scholars  of  his 
time.  For  the  crime  of  daring  to  think  for  himself 
upon  the  question  of  religion,  he  was  hanged,  and  his 
body  burnt. 

In  all  parts  of  France  lawlessness  felt  encouraged,  and 
fanaticism  began  to  redden  its  hands  in  the  blood  of  its 
Protestant  victims.  Houses  were  sacked,  the  owners 


406  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

killed,  and  their  children  driven  forth  to  perish  of  cold 
or  hunger. 

Alarmed  and  indignant,  the  Protestant  chiefs  met  in 
conference.  Conde  advised  war  ;  Coligny,  peace. 

The  voice  of  Coligny  prevailed.  Then  came  the  attempt 
of  La  Renaudie  to  seize  the  king  and  get  him  out  from 
under  the  influence  of  the  Guises.  This  attempt,  which 
A.D.  failed,  through  the  treachery  of  one  of  the  conspirators, 
was  called  the  Conspiracy  of  Amboise.  Conde  was  prob- 
ably concerned  in  it,  though  it  seems  that  Coligny  was 
not. 

Guise  took  bloody  vengeance.  Twelve  hundred  of  his 
enemies  were  butchered,  without  trial  or  formal  considera- 
tion. They  were  bunched  together,  tied  back  to  back, 
and  flung  into  the  Loire.  Gentlemen  were  brought  forth 
to  be  hanged,  after  the  king  had  taken  dinner,  in  order 
that  he  might  regale  his  eyes  and  perfect  his  digestion  by 
viewing  the  executions. 

Francis  II.  and  his  fair  young  queen,  in  whose  future 
the  block,  the  headsman,  and  the  headsman's  axe  were 
waiting,  sat  composedly  upon  a  balcony  of  the  palace, 
attended  by  lords  and  ladies,  and  gazed  with  interest  upon 
the  death-struggles  of  the  victims  of  the  warrior  Guise, 
and_of  his  priestly  brother  the  cardinal  of  Lorraine. 

Flushed  with  success,  the  Guises  now  demanded  a 
decree  legalizing  the  Inquisition  in  France.  The  chan- 
cellor, the  illustrious  reformer,  L'Hopital,  refused  to  sanc- 
tion the  writ,  and  the  scheme  fell.  By  the  Edict  of 
Ramorantin,  however,  cognizance  of  the  crime  of  heresy 
was  given  to  the  bishops'  courts. 

A.D.        There  was  now  a  general  demand  for  the  assembling 
1660   of  the  States  General,  but  the  Guises  opposed  it. 


xxiv  HENRY   THE   SECOND  407 

On  August  21,  the  assembly  of  notables  met  at  Fontaine- 
bleau,  and  was  presided  over  by  the  king.  With  him  were 
his  queen,  the  queen-mother,  and  his  brothers. 

At  this  meeting  Coligny  presented  a  petition  formally 
demanding,  in  most  respectful  terms,  liberty  of  worship 
for  the  Protestants.  He  also  urged  that  the  States  Gen- 
eral be  convened. 

The  Guises  opposed  both  his  demands,  but  the  notables 
decided  to  convene  the  States  General,  and  to  that  meeting 
the  religious  question  was  postponed. 

The  Guises  meant  that  this  States  General  should  not 
assemble.  They  planned  to  strike  down  the  Bourbon 
princes,  and  to  commence  a  merciless  crusade  against  the 
Protestants. 

Conde  was  enticed  to  court,  arrested  at  once,  accused 
of  complicity  in  the  Amboise  conspiracy,  and  condemned 
to  death.  The  noble  chancellor,  L'Hopital,  refused  to 
sign  the  death-warrant,  and  Conde*  remained  in  prison, 
expecting  execution  every  day. 

Antoine  of  Bourbon,  king  of  Navarre,  was,  it  is  said, 
to  be  murdered  in  the  king's  presence,  upon  a  signal  to 
be  given  by  the  king.  The  signal  was  not  given,  however, 
and  the  murder  did  not  take  place. 

Whatever  plans  the  Guises  had  made  were  checked  by 
the  sudden  death  of  the  young  king.  Not  yet  seventeen 
years  of  age,  he  was  attacked  by  an  abscess  of  the  ear, 
and  grew  rapidly  worse.  Public  processions  were  made  A.D. 
in  Paris  for  his  recovery.  His  young  wife  was  at  his 
bedside,  also  Coligny  and  the  Guises.  In  his  dread  of 
death,  his  pitiable  desire  to  live,  the  poor  boy  called  upon 
the  Virgin  and  all  the  saints  to  help  him,  promising  them 
that  if  they  would  but  save  him,  he  would  hunt  out  the 


408  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP,  xxiv 

heretics  without  pity — sparing  no  one,  not  even  wife, 
mother,  or  brothers,  should  they  be  found  tainted  with 
the  pestilence  of  independent  thought. 

Henry  II.  had  left  a  public  debt  of  42,480,000  francs, 
equal  to  350,000,000  francs  now.  The  finances  were  in 
such  disorder,  during  the  brief  reign  of  his  son,  that  the 
crown  refused  to  pay  its  most  lawful  debts,  and  the  Cardi- 
nal Lorraine,  who  had  charge  of  the  finances,  erected  a 
gallows  in  front  of  his  door,  threatening  to  hang  any  one 
who  came  to  dun  the  king.  Such  measures  as  these, 
added  to  the  massacres  by  the  Duke  of  Guise,  drove  all 
malcontents  into  the  Protestant  party. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

CHARLES   THE   NINTH 

CATHERINE  DE'  MEDICI  became  regent  of  the  king- 
dom, her  son  Charles  IX.,  next  in  succession  to  his 
brother  Francis  II.,  being  only  ten  years  old. 

She  realized  what  a  storm  of  hatred  the  sanguinary 
course  of  the  Guises  was  bringing  upon  the  heads  of  her 
children,  and  she  perhaps  suspected  that  the  Duke  of  Guise 
aspired  to  the  crown. 

At  any  rate  she  put  a  check  upon  him,  for  the  present, 
by  appointing  Antoine  de  Bourbon  lieutenant-general 
of  the  kingdom,  liberating  Conde,  and  recalling  Montmo- 
rency  to  court.  Thus,  while  taking  nothing  directly  from 
the  Guises,  she  very  effectually  brought  them  to  a  stand- 
still. 

Rarely  has  a  ship  of  state  ridden  a  wilder  sea  than  the 
government  of  Catherine  now  encountered. 

The  king  was  a  child,  the  regent  an  inexperienced 
woman,  the  direct  line  of  the  royal  house  seemed  to  be 
failing,  and,  already,  the  Bourbons  and  the  Guises  had 
entered  upon  a  fierce  rivalry  for  the  succession  to  the  throne. 

To  this  cause  of  faction,  the  religious  question  must  be 
added.  The  average  Catholic  regarded  the  average  Prot- 
estant as  a  despicable  traitor  to  God  —  a  man  who,  for 
his  own  soul's  salvation,  ought  to  have  his  error  burnt  out 
of  him.  The  Catholics  believed  sincerely  that  they  them- 

409 


410  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

selves  were  committing  a  heinous  sin  in  permitting  Prot- 
estantism to  exist. 

They  regarded  all  compromise  with  heretics  as  an 
abomination  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord.  It  is  a  mistake 
to  believe  that  this  feeling  was  confined  to  the  priests  ;  it 
was  as  deep  among  the  people  as  among  the  clergy. 

With  the  Protestants,  the  counter-feeling  was  just  as 
intense.  They  hated  the  Catholic  religion  with  a  raven- 
ous hatred.  They  believed  with  all  their  hearts  that  it 
ought  to  be  swept  off  the  face  of  the  earth.  They  bitterly 
ridiculed  Catholic  rites  and  ceremonies,  their  miracles, 
exorcisms,  prostrations,  and  processions.  They  fiercely 
denounced  the  worship  of  images  and,  whenever  they 
could,  made  havoc  of  altars,  images,  crosses,  painted 
windows,  and  church  decorations  generally. 

Whenever  they  could  seize  upon  a  Catholic  church  and 
convert  it  to  their  own  use,  they  did  it.  Whenever  they 
could  insult  a  Catholic  congregation,  stop  a  Catholic  pro- 
cession, or  publicly  vent  their  contempt  upon  the  Catho- 
lic creed,  it  was  done.  The  average  Protestant  not  only 
wanted  the  liberty  of  worshipping  God  according  to  his 
own  belief,  but  he  wanted  also  the  right  to  compel  other 
people  to  conform  to  his  views.  Therefore,  between  the 
two  sects  of  Christians,  there  was  irreconcilable  hatred 
on  principle  ;  and  it  was  intensified  by  the  monstrous  false- 
hoods which  each  believed  about  the  other.  Protestants 
were  told  that  nuns  were  harlots,  and  priests  hypocrites, 
impostors,  sensualists,  and  murderers ;  whereas  Catholics 
readily  accepted  the  story  that  it  was  the  custom  in 
Protestant  churches,  at  the  night  service,  for  the  congre- 
gation to  follow  up  the  religious  exercises  by  putting  out 
the  lights  and  indulging  in  promiscuous  debauchery. 


xxv  CHARLES  THE  NINTH  411 

Combustible  materials  like  these  being  so  abundant, 
it  needed  but  a  spark  to  light  the  fires  of  civil 
war. 

The  States  General,  convoked  by  Francis  II.,  assembled 
at  Orleans,  December  10,  1560,  but  accomplished  noth- 
ing. The  clerical  deputies  favoured  vigorous  measures 
against  the  Protestants,  the  commons  favoured  religious 
freedom,  the  nobles  were  divided. 

The  finances  were  wretchedly  disordered.  The  public 
debt  had  reached  a  sum  equal  to  350,000,000  francs  to-day, 
while  the  revenue  did  not  amount  to  12,260,000  francs. 
The  nobles  would  not  consent  to  contribute  anything  to 
the  treasury,  the  commons  were  already  taxed  to  the  limit 
of  endurance,  and  their  deputies  clamoured  for  the  taxa- 
tion of  church  property.  The  dignitaries  of  the  Church 
became  alarmed  and  consented  to  make  a  free  gift  of 
1,600,000  livres  for  six  years,  in  addition  to  the  annual 
tenth,  which  they  had  paid  under  Francis  I. 

The  chancellor,  L'Hopital,  an  able,  honest,  patriotic 
man,  had  great  influence  with  Catherine  de'  Medici,  and 
was  for  some  time  the  conservator  of  the  public  peace. 
Sincerely  wishing  to  avoid  internal  strife  between  the 
two  great  sects  of  Christians,  he  called  a  conference  of 
the  most  influential  leaders  to  meet  at  Poissy  in  1561. 
The  cardinal  of  Lorraine,  brother  of  the  Duke  of  Guise, 
was  chief  of  the  Catholic  delegates  present ;  and  Calvin, 
while  not  attending  in  person,  was  represented  by  Theo- 
dore de  Beze,  his  most  distinguished  disciple.  The  at- 
tendance of  Catholic  delegates  was  large,  including  several 
cardinals,  forty  bishops,  and  a  great  number  of  lesser 
theologians.  The  Protestants  were  represented  by  eleven 
ministers  only. 


412  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

Lengthy  discussions  took  place  upon  articles  of  faith, 
with  the  usual  result  that  nobody's  opinion  was  changed. 

The  Protestants,  however,  made  some  political  demands 
which  are  worthy  of  note. 

They  asked  for  financial  reform,  religious  toleration, 
abolition  of  the  sale  of  offices,  and  the  sale  of  the  property 
of  the  Church,  then  estimated  at  120,000,000  livres.  The 
Protestants,  having  at  that  time  no  church  property  of 
their  own,  believed  that  the  wealth  of  the  Church  would 
be  wisely  used  if  appropriated  for  the  payment  of  the  pub- 
lic debt.  The  Protestant  Church  of  our  own  day  would 
hardly  be  found  advocating  doctrines  of  that  kind. 

The  clergy  warded  off  the  danger  which  lurked  in  the 

Calvinist  proposition,  by  making  liberal  promises,  which 

were  not  kept,  and  the  conference  adjourned. 

A.D.        By  the  celebrated  ordinance  of  Orleans,  L'Hopital  re- 

1561    established  canonical  elections,  forbade  the  clergy  to  exact 

fees  for  administering  the  sacraments,  compelled  them  to 

reside  in  their  benefices,  and  transferred  the  administration 

of  justice  entirely  to  men  who  had  some  knowledge  of  law. 

Royal  letters  enjoined  it  upon  Parliament  to  suspend 
all  religious  prosecutions.  The  chancellor  also  reestab- 
lished an  equilibrium  between  the  income  and  the  outgo 
of  the  national  revenues. 

Up  to  this  time,  Catherine  was  in  full  accord  with 
L'Hopital.  She  even  went  so  far  as  to  write  to  the  Pope, 
insisting  upon  the  necessity  of  reforms  in  the  Church. 
She  allowed  the  chancellor  to  issue  (January,  1562)  an 
edict  which  permitted  Protestant  worship  in  the  country 
districts,  while  prohibiting  it  in  walled  towns,  suspended 
all  punishment  of  heretics,  and  forbade  them  from  inter- 
fering with  the  Catholic  worship. 


xxv  CHARLES   THE   NINTH  413 

Such  as  it  was,  this  was  the  first  act  of  toleration  in  -A.D. 
France.  It  was  the  fruit  of  a  meeting  of  the  deputies 
chosen  by  all  the  parliaments,  at  the  suggestion  of  the 
chancellor,  for  the  purpose  of  trying  to  find  some  method 
of  keeping  peace  between  the  two  religions.  In  address- 
ing the  assembled  deputies,  as  they  were  about  to  begin 
their  deliberations,  the  chancellor  had  used  these  noble 
words :  — 

"  Inquire  whether  it  may  not  be  possible  for  a  citizen  to 
be  a  good  subject  without  being  a  Catholic ;  and  if  it  be 
not  possible  for  men,  differing  in  faith,  to  live  in  peace 
with  one  another.  Do  not  wear  yourselves  out  in  seeking 
to  decide  which  religion  is  the  best.  We  are  not  here  to 
settle  the  faith  ;  we  are  here  to  regulate  the  State." 

Had  it  pleased  God  to  have  made  this  man  king  of 
France  for  some  thirty  years,  what  miseries  might  have 
been  spared  the  human  race  ! 

The  concessions  granted  to  the  Protestants,  while  far 
from  satisfactory  to  that  sect,  were  intensely  distasteful 
to  the  Catholics.  The  monks  began  to  accuse  the  queen 
of  leaning  to  the  new  religion  ;  the  Jesuits,  especially, 
were  active  in  fomenting  discontent  and  strife.  The 
cardinal  of  Lorraine  and  the  doctors  of  the  Sorbonne 
secretly  implored  the  aid  of  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  who  re- 
monstrated and  threatened  the  queen-mother.  Riots, 
accompanied  with  bloodshed,  broke  out  on  all  sides. 

The  most  sinister  agency  at  work  in  France,  driving 
her  to  distraction  and  civil  war,  was  that  of  the  Jesuits. 

This  order,  founded  by  Ignatius  Loyola,  for  the  purpose 
of  spreading  and  strengthening  the  Catholic  faith,  had  been 
legalized  in  France  two  years  before. 

To  fanaticism    and    unwearied    zeal,  this   secret   order 


414  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

united  profoundly  subtle  and  often  unscrupulous  methods. 
Armed  with  the  terrible  power  of  the  Inquisition,  moving 
stealthily  toward  their  hidden  aims,  imbued  with  the  belief 
that  evil  methods  are  justifiable  weapons  in  the  service 
of  tjie  Church,  ready  to  make  use  of  the  assassin,  setting 
spies  to  work  in  all  great  households,  listening  at  the  con- 
fessional to  the  heart-beat  of  the  high  and  the  low,  the  good 
and  the  bad,  the  Jesuits  moved  behind  the  scenes  in  all 
lands  where  Catholicism  had  enemies  to  meet,  and  they 
were  the  secret  causes  of  many  a  crime  where  others 
struck,  many  a  war  where  others  fought,  and  many  a 
treaty  where  human  liberties  and  lives  were  bartered 
away. 

To  the  Duke  of  Guise  belongs  the  evil  distinction  of 
beginning  the  civil  wars,  through  which  the  soil  of  France 
was  wet  with  French  blood. 

A.D.  Returning  from  Lorraine  in  the  month  of  March,  1562, 
1562  he  was  passing  through  the  town  of  Vassy,  in  Champagne, 
and  stopped  there  to  attend  mass.  While  doing  so,  he 
heard  singing  going  on  in  a  neighbouring  barn.  Inquiring 
what  it  meant,  he  was  told  that  some  600  or  700  Protes- 
tants were  worshipping  there.  The  duke  swelled  with 
rage,  pulled  his  moustache  and  gnawed  it.  His  followers 
knew  this  to  be  a  sure  sign  of  deadly  wrath  in  their  mas- 
ter, and  no  further  encouragement  did  they  need. 

Off  they  put,  armed  soldiers  they,  to  stop  the  Protestant 
service.  Arrived  at  the  barn,  they  demanded  that  the 
congregation  should  disperse.  The  congregation  declined 
to  obey,  and  the  Catholic  soldiers  assailed  the  unarmed 
Protestants  with  their  swords,  while  the  Protestants  re- 
plied with  such  stones  and  clods  of  earth  as  they  could 
snatch  up  from  the  ground. 


xxv  CHARLES  THE  NINTH  416 

The  duke,  hastening  up  to  take  a  hand  in  the  affray, 
was  hit  in  the  face  by  a  stone,  and  then  followed  a  massacre 
in  which  sixty  Protestants  were  killed  and  200  wounded, 
the  victims  including  women  and  children  as  well  as  men. 

This  massacre  of  Vassy  was  a  signal,  and  other  slaugh- 
ters followed.  In  districts  where  the  Protestants  were  in 
the  majority,  they  assailed  and  murdered  the  Catholics, 
with  a  fury  equal  to  that  from  which  they  had  themselves 
suffered  elsewhere. 

Neither  sect  had  the  slightest  respect  for  the  rights  of 
the  other.  Religious  toleration,  in  its  fullest  sense,  does 
not  exist  even  now  :  it  did  not  exist  in  any  sense  then. 
To  kill  a  man  who  differed  from  you  in  religion  was  justi- 
fiable homicide  in  those  days,  if  the  decision  were  left  to 
your  sect. 

After  his  exploit  at  Vassy,  the  Duke  of  Guise  entered 
Paris  in  triumph,  Catherine  .took  the  young  king  away 
to  Amboise,  and  the  Protestant  chiefs  began  to  organize 
in  self-defence. 

The  Guise  faction,  with  which  the  old  Constable  Mont- 
morency  was  now  cooperating,  took  possession  of  the 
king,  however,  and  carried  him  back  to  Paris.  Mont- 
morency  emphasized  his  arrival  by  burning  down  the 
only  two  Protestant  churches  in  the  city. 

The  Protestants  still  held  back  from  war,  and  endeav- 
oured by  negotiation  to  obtain  peace,  security,  and  freedom 
of  worship.     Their  efforts  failed,  and  the  country  drifted 
into  a  civil  war,  which  had  many  truces  and  treaties  and 
patched-up  reconciliations,  but  which  did  not  finally  end    A.D. 
until  the  "Protestant  hero,"  Henry  IV.,  jauntily  shook   1562 
off  the  new  religion  and  put  on  the  old,  and  thus  became 
undisputed  master  of  France. 


416  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

There  is  nothing  drearier  than  a  narrative  of  the  details 
of  war,  especially  civil  war,  and  it  is  not  necessary  to  dwell 
upon  this  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  unhappy  land. 

It  is  enough  to  say  that  Guise  won  the  first  decisive 
battle — that  of  Dreux — mainly  by  the  help  of  the  Span- 
ish troops  Philip  II.  had  sent  him,  and  took  Conde 
prisoner.  It  is  a  curious  illustration  of  the  manners  of 
the  time  that  these  two  deadly  enemies  —  Catholic  captor 
and  Protestant  captive  —  cheerfully  shared  the  same  bed 
the  night  after  the  battle. 

In  February,  1563,  the  Duke  of  Guise  was  killed  from 

ambush,  by  a  pistol-shot  fired  by  a  fanatical  Protestant 

named  Poltrot,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  his  camp  before 

Orleans. 

A.I>.        The  assassin  was  put  to  death  with  horrible  tortures, 

1  ^ft'-l 

glorying  in  his  crime  to  the-  last,  and  crying  out  amid  his 
torments,  "  He  is  gone,  the  persecutor  of  the  faithful,  and 
he  will  not  come  back." 

Guise  being   dead,    Montmorency  a  prisoner,  and  the 
Catholics  having  failed  to  take  Orleans,  the  queen-mother 
now  favoured  peace  ;  and  a  treaty  was  accordingly  made 
which   allowed  Protestant  worship  in  the  houses  of  the 
nobility  and  in  one  town  of  each  province. 
A.D.        Instigated  by  Philip  II.  of  Spain  and  the  Duke  of  Alva, 
1606   as  well  as  by  the  Pope,  Catherine  gradually  encroached 
upon  the  privileges  granted  by  the  treaty,  and  war  again 
broke  out. 

A.D.        There  was  a  battle,  before  Paris,  between  the  Catholics 
567    under  Montmorency  and  the  Protestants  under  Conde,  in 
which  Montmorency  was  killed.     The  action  was  of  the 
kind  called  indecisive,  but  the  Catholics  remained  in  pos- 
session of  the  field.     Conde,  however,  received  a  reenforce- 


xxv  CHARLES  THE  NINTH  417 

ment  of  9000  German  troops,  and  the  Catholics  asked  for  A.D. 
peace.  It  was  granted  upon  condition  that  the  former  1568 
treaty  should  be  carried  out. 

But  war  was  in  the  air,  and  distrust  was  universal 
between  the  two  sects  of  the  followers  of  Christ.  Cath- 
erine resolved  upon  more  desperate  measures,  and  to  free 
herself  of  restraint  in  this  new  policy  the  Chancellor 
L'Hopital  was  displaced. 

A  plot  was  made  to  seize  all  the  Protestant  leaders, 
but  they  escaped,  and  civil  war  again  commenced.  Cath- 
erine declared  it  by  issuing  an  edict  forbidding  the 
exercise  of  the  Protestant  religion  on  pain  of  death,  and 
by  ordering  all  Protestant  ministers  to  leave  the  kingdom 
within  two  weeks. 

The  battle  of  Jarnac  was  fought  March,  1569,  Coligny    A.D. 
was   defeated,  and   Conde   was   killed  while   in  the  act   1569 
of  surrendering.      The   Protestants  were  encouraged  at 
this   critical   moment  by  the  queen  of  Navarre,  Jeanne 
d'  Albret,  who  joined  them  with  her  son,  Henry  of  Beam, 
then  fifteen  years  old.     Coligny's  army  was  also  reenforced 
by    13,000  Germans.     Taking  the   offensive,  he  attacked 
and   defeated   the   Catholic   army.     This   was  at   Roche 
Abeille.     I  mention  the  name   because,  so    far  as  I  can 
learn,  this  was  the  only  fight  Coligny  ever  won. 

Soon  afterwards  he  fought  again  at  Montcontour  and 
had  his  usual  luck  of  being  beaten. 

Defeats,  however,  had  little  effect  on  Coligny,  and  he 
kept  his  army  well  in  hand,  recruiting  its  strength  and 
getting  ready  for  another  battle. 

His  perseverance  and  inability  to  appreciate  repeated 
defeats,  discouraged  Catherine,  and  she  once  more  offered 
peace,  which  was  promptly  accepted. 


418  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

A.D.  By  this  treaty  the  Protestants  were  to  enjoy  freedom  of 
worship  in  two  cities  in  each  province,  and  in  all  places 
where  it  was  already  established  ;  they  were  to  be  ad- 
mitted to  all  employments ;  and  four  cities  were  to 
remain  in  their  control,  —  Rochelle,  Cognac,  Montauban, 
and  La  Charite. 

Trusting  to  the  royal  word,  Coligny  and  other  Protestant 
chiefs  now  returned  to  court,  resumed  their  functions,  and 
acted  confidently  upon  the  belief  that  the  wars  were  over. 

Conciliation  was  once  more  the  policy  of  the  queen- 
mother.  As  a  pledge  of  permanent  peace  she  proposed 
that  her  daughter,  Margaret  de  Valois,  should  marry 
Henry  of  Beam,  the  head  of  the  Protestant  princes.  To 
this  marriage  there  was  the  obstacle  that  no  Catholic 
priest  would  perform  the  ceremony  without  a  dispensation 
from  the  Pope  —  and  the  Pope  refused  to  grant  one. 

Charles  IX.  heartily  favoured  the  match,  and  threatened, 
as  he  said,  to  "  tuck  my  sister  Margoton  under  my  arm 
and  take  her  to  be  married  in  full  meeting-house,"- 
meaning  that  he  would  have  the  ceremony  performed  by 
a  Protestant  minister.  At  this  firm  stand  on  the  part  of 
the  king,  the  papal  dispensation  was  forthcoming,  though 
it  is  said  that  Catherine  de'  Medici  forged  it. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  earnestness  shown  by  the  king 
and  his  mother  in  bringing  about  this  marriage  between 
Margaret  and  the  chief  of  the  heretics,  ought  to  have 
great  weight  in  determining  whether  the  massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew  was  not,  after  all,  more  of  a  sudden  outbreak 
than  a  conspiracy  deliberately  planned  long  in  advance. 

Coligny  was  still  admiral  of  France,  and  he  again 
entered  into  the  full  performance  of  his  duties.  The 
king  treated  no  one  so  well ;  called  him  "  My  dear  father  " ; 


xxv  CHARLES  THE  NINTH  419 

advised  with  him  on  all  questions,  and  appeared  to  be 
completely  under  his  influence. 

This  was  not  pleasing  to  the  Guises  nor  to  the  queen- 
mother,  while  to  the  Catholics  generally  the  last  treaty 
was  an  abomination,  and  Coligny  the  object  of  their  in- 
tense hatred. 

The  young  Duke  of  Guise,  son  of  the  assassinated  duke, 
believed  that  the  admiral  had  been  privy  to  his  father's 
murder,  and  therefore  to  see  himself  and  his  faction  su- 
perseded in  royal  favour  by  this  abhorred  chief  of  the 
Huguenots,  was  intolerable  to  him. 

Coligny  was  fired  upon  and  wounded   on  August  22, 
1572,  by  one  Maurevel,  a  man  in  the  service  of  the  Duke 
of  Guise.     The   wound  was   slight,  but   the   commotion 
which  naturally  ensued  was  great.     Coligny  was  urged  to 
quit  Paris  at  once.     The  Protestant  chiefs  were  in  a  help- 
less minority  there,  and  they  feared  danger.     They  had    A.D. 
been  warned,  and  in  this  attempt  upon  Coligny  they  saw   1672 
the  beginning  of  another  civil  war. 

The  young  king  was  at  the  game  of  tennis  with  Guise, 
when  the  shot  was  fired  which  wounded  the  admiral. 
"  Am  I  never  to  have  any  peace  ?  "  he  cried,  and  broke  the 
racquet  with  which  he  was  playing.  The  young  duke  said 
nothing. 

The  king,  attended  by  his  mother  and  his  brothers,  went 
to  see  Coligny  and  expressed  the  greatest  sorrow  and 
indignation  at  the  crime,  swearing  vengeance  against  the 
criminal. 

The  admiral  still  trusted  his  royal  master.  In  less 
than  forty -eight  hours  this  perjured  king  had  given  ex- 
press sanction  to  the  massacre  of  every  Protestant  in  his 
dominions. 


420  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

The  Duke  of  Alva  had  long  ago  suggested  to  Catherine 
the  propriety  of  killing  off  the  chiefs  of  the  Protestant 
cause.  The  opportunity  had  at  length  arrived.  The 
Protestant  chiefs,  unarmed  and  unprepared,  were  at  Paris 
—  an  intensely  Catholic  city. 

Catherine  and  the  Guises  had  tried  war  and  had  failed. 
They  now  resolved  to  try  another  plan  —  wholesale  mas- 
sacre. 

The  king  was  by  this  time  of  age,  and  while  he  pos- 
sessed quick  intelligence  and  considerable  culture,  he  was 
of  inconstant  character,  the  victim  of  moods  most  violent 
and  contradictory.  While  still  breathing  threats  against 
Coligny's  assailant  and  the  Guises,  he  was  approached  by 
his  mother  and  his  brother,  who  told  him  that  they  had 
connived  at  the  attempt  upon  the  admiral's  life  and  that 
a  prosecution  of  Guise  would  involve  the  whole  royal 
family.  They  urged  him  to  prevent  the  exposure,  and 
put  a  stop  to  religious  strife,  once  for  all,  by  a  general 
slaughter  of  the  heretics. 

Indignantly  rejecting  this  proposal  at  first,  the  king 
sanctioned  it  soon  afterwards,  saying,  "  Kill  them  all  so 
that  none  will  be  left  to  reproach  me." 

At  two  o'clock  in  the  night  of  August  24,  1572,  the 
bells  of  the  city  of  Paris  rang  out  the  signal  for  the  mas- 
sacre, and  the  Protestants  awoke  to  hear  the  rush  of  hurry- 
ing footsteps,  to  see  the  glare  of  torches,  and  to  face 
death,  sudden  and  horrible,  in  every  street  of  the  city.  It 
was  the  morning  of  Sunday  —  such  a  Sunday  as  the 
Christian  world  never  saw  before.  Screams  of  pain  and 
fear,  mingled  with  yells  of  joy  and  gratified  hate,  filled 
the  air. 

Without  pity,  and  without  distinction  of  age  or  of  sex, 


xxv  CHARLES  THE  NINTH  421 

the  Protestants  were  butchered.  They  were  shot  with 
pistols  and  guns,  they  were  gashed  with  daggers  and 
swords,  they  were  brained  with  clubs  and  stones.  Even 
after  death,  their  bodies  were  mangled,  exposed  to  public 
ridicule,  and  treated  with  every  indignity  which  savage 
hatred  could  suggest. 

Coligny  was  one  of  the  first  victims.  To  the  small 
number  of  men  who  have  ennobled  the  annals  of  every 
nation  by  heroic  devotion  to  high  ideals,  Coligny  belongs. 

By  birth  he  was  one  of  the  wealthy  and  powerful  nobles 
of  France. 

Every  honour  to  which  a  subject  may  attain  was  within 
his  reach.  Born  in  1517,  he  was  in  1547  given  the  com- 
mand of  the  French  infantry ;  in  1551  he  was  made 
governor  of  Paris  ;  in  1552  he  was  appointed  admiral 
of  France.  In  1555  he  became  governor  of  the  province 
of  Picardy ;  in  the  autumn  of  that  year  he  was  sent  as 
ambassador  to  conclude  with  the  Emperor  Charles  V. 
the  Treaty  of  Vaucelles. 

To  reap  every  other  reward  which  royal  favour  could 
bestow,  Coligny  had  but  to  remain  a  Catholic  —  worship 
as  the  king  worshipped,  and  conform  to  the  religious 
opinions  of  the  vast  majority  of  the  French  people. 

The  Protestants  were  in  a  minority ;  they  could  count 
only  about  one-tenth  of  the  population ;  they  had  no 
organization,  wealth,  or  political  power. 

Coligny  cast  his  fortunes  with  this  minority,  earning 
thereby  a  life  of  toil  and  a  bloody  death. 

After  he  had  been  shot  by  Guise's  hireling,  after  the 
king  had  come  to  his  bedside  and  sworn  vengeance  against 
the  assassin,  the  old  man,  resisting  those  who  begged  him 
to  fly,  waited  patiently  in  his  sick-room,  shrinking  from 


422  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

taking  a  step  which  might  bring  on  another  civil  war, 
and  deaf  to  those  of  his  partisans  who  clamoured  for 
leave  to  revenge  him  upon  Guise. 

Meanwhile  his  enemies  were  in  council  at  the  royal 
palace,  all  preparations  for  indiscriminate  murder  had 
been  made,  the  royal  sanction  had  been  won  by  playing 
upon  the  fears  of  a  weak,  hasty,  and  violent  king,  the 
great  bell  had  sounded  the  signal,  and  Coligny  awoke  to 
hear  ominous  knocking  on  his  own  door. 

Guise  was  there  and  his  armed  men.  Coligny  and  his 
minister  Merlin  prayed. 

"I  have  long  been  prepared   to   die,"   said   Coligny. 

"  Save  your  lives,  if  you  can,"  he  said  to  his  servants  ; 
"you  cannot  save  mine.  I  commend  my  soul  to  the 
mercy  of  God." 

His  servants  escaped  by  way  of  the  roof,  and  the  old 
man  was  left  alone. 

The  murderers  had  broken  in  the  door  and  entered  his 
room. 

"  Are  you  the  admiral  ? "  asked  Besme,  a  German  in 
Guise's  service. 

"  I  am,"  said  Coligny.  "  Young  man,  you  ought  to 
consider  my  age  and  infirmity  ;  but  you  will  not  shorten 
my  life  much." 

Besme  pierced  him  with  a  boar-spear  and  the  other 
assassins  finished  him  with  their  daggers. 

"  Besme  I  Besme  !  Is  it  done  ?  "  asked  Guise  from  the 
courtyard  below. 

"  It  is  done,  my  lord ; "  and  to  satisfy  my  lord  about  it 
the  dead  body  is  flung  out  of  the  window  and  falls  at 
Guise's  feet. 

Wiping  the  blood  off  the  aged   face,  Guise  cries  joy- 


xxv  CHARLES   THE   NINTH  423 

fully,  "  I  know  him  :  it  is  he  ; "  and  spurning  the  corpse 
with  his  foot,  he  and  his  men  went  forth  into  the  street 
to  join  in  the  general  slaughter. 

The  violent  but  inconstant  king,  stricken  with  a  tem- 
porary panic  and  a  passing  qualm  of  remorse,  sent  Guise 
word  to  stop  the  massacre  and  not  to  harm  Coligny. 

"  Tell  the  king  it  is  too  late,"  said  the  duke. 

It  was  indeed  too  late.  The  brave,  loyal  heart  of  the 
patriot,  soldier,  and  statesman  was  cold. 

Priests,  with  the  crucifix  in  one  hand  and  the  sword  in 
the  other,  ran  hither  and  thither  driving  on  the  willing 
people  to  the  hunt ;  and  in  the  palace  itself,  in  the  very 
bedroom  of  the  king's  sister,  there  was  murder  being 
done. 

The  king  himself  is  said  to  have  fired  upon  the  wretched 
Huguenots  from  a  balcony  of  the  royal  palace  of  the 
Louvre.  For  several  days  the  hideous  carnival  of  mur- 
der went  on,  the  priests  inciting  the  maddened  populace 
with  precept  and  with  example. 

Orders  were  sent  all  over  France  for  similar  massacres, 
and  in  some  cities  the  orders  were  obeyed  ;  but  to  the 
lasting  credit  of  human  nature,  be  it  said,  that  in  several 
places  the  Catholic  officials  flatly  refused  to  honour  the 
king's  commands.  The  massacre  was  only  stopped  when 
it  was  seen  that  a  reign  of  anarchy  and  promiscuous  crime 
was  about  to  set  in.  And  how  many  were  killed? 
Nobody  knows.  Dead  bodies  choked  the  Seine  and 
the  Loire,  and  had  to  be  taken  out  by  the  hundred  and 
buried  to  prevent  pestilence.  The  streets  were  slippery 
with  blood  ;  huge  piles  of  bodies  were  burnt ;  others 
were  sunk  into  obscure  pits. 

No  author  sets  the  estimate  of  the  slain  lower  than 


424  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

10,000,  while  some  put  it  as  high  as  100,000.  The 
truth  probably  lies  between. 

Thousands  of  Catholics  were  horrified  at  this  massacre, 
but  the  king  of  Spain,  Philip  II.,  approved  it  most 
heartily,  and  both  he  and  the  Pope  sent  congratulations 
to  the  king  of  France.  Philip  actually  laughed  aloud 
when  he  read  the  despatches  announcing  the  massacre  — 
the  only  time  that  he  ever  laughed  in  all  his  gloomy 
reign.  At  Rome,  the  Pope  ordered  his  cannon  to  fire  a 
salute  from  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  and  Te  Deums  to  be 
sung  in  the  churches.  Civil  war  again  broke  out,  the 
Protestants  being  desperately  enraged  by  the  massacre. 
Rochelle  was  their  stronghold,  and  the  Duke  of  Anjou, 
brother  of  the  king,  besieged  it ;  but  failing  to  take  it 
after  four  assaults,  he  grew  tired  and  negotiated.  Peace 
was  made,  and  once  more  liberty  of  conscience  was  sol- 
emnly promised  the  Protestants. 

Charles  IX.  was  keenly  mortified  by  this  failure.  It 
seemed  to  him  that  the  butchery  he  had  sanctioned  had 
not  succeeded  in  suppressing  heresy,  and  he  suffered 
A  D-  remorse.  He  complained  that  St.  Bartholomew  haunted 
him,  with  its  visions  of  murder,  its  cries  of  terror,  its 
groans  of  the  dying,  its  white  faces  of  the  dead.  A 
frightful  disease  wore  him  away  :  he  had  convulsions 
and  furious  delirium  ;  the  blood  oozed  from  the  pores 
of  his  skin,  from  his  nose  and  his  ears.  Strange  to  say 
his  old  nurse  was  a  Huguenot,  and  he  trusted  her.  She 
was  his  only  attendant  as  he  breathed  his  last  at  twenty- 
four  years  of  age,  on  the  30th  of  May,  1574. 

Charles  IX.  was  not  perhaps  an  especially  bad  man. 
He  was  violent  but  irresolute,  changing  from  one  course 
to  another  as  the  pressure  upon  him  varied. 


xxv  CHAELES  THE  NINTH  425 

He  wrote  poetry  and  was  a  friend  of  poets.  His 
relations  with  Ronsard,  a  famous  lyric  poet  of  that  day, 
were  almost  intimate,  and  entirely  cordial.  He  was 
passionately  fond  of  hunting,  and  wrote  a  treatise  on 
the  subject.  He  granted  letters-patent  for  the  first 
literary  society  founded  in  France,  and  not  only  loved 
to  meet  with  literary  men  and  artists,  but  also  sang  in 
the  churches,  and  himself  composed  songs. 

Another  of  his  tastes  was  for  blacksmith's  work,  and  he 
had  a  forge  set  up  for  himself  in  the  palace  where  he 
made  horseshoes,  nails,  and  other  things  of  like  kind  with 
all  the  zeal  of  one  who  was  not  obliged  to  toil  for  his 
living.  He  was  temperate  in  eating  and  drinking,  taking 
no  wine  at  all. 

This  unfortunate  monarch  was  the  slave  of  his  surround- 
ings, of  the  fierce  passions  which  shook  his  throne,  of  the 
intense  rivalries  which  pulled  him  first  in  one  direction 
and  then  in  another.  Had  not  the  people  been  ready  to 
cut  one  another's  throats  about  religious  differences,  the 
king's  orders,  wrung  from  him  by  his  mother,  brother, 
and  the  Guise  faction,  would  have  been  ignored.  Me- 
chanics, tradesmen,  day-labourers,  quiet  citizens,  and  peace- 
ful property-holders  do  not  pull  out  knives  and  begin 
slashing  their  neighbours  simply  because  a  king  tells  them 
to  do  it.  Therefore  the  responsibility  for  the  Massacre 
of  St.  Bartholomew  rests  mainly  upon  the  people  them- 
selves, and  upon  the  teachers  who  taught  them  that  a  man 
who  believed  he  had  a  right  to  worship  God  according  to 
his  own  convictions  was  worse  than  a  murderer,  and 
should  be  killed  like  a  dog  wherever  found. 


426  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

As  an  example  of  the  spirit  of  the  times,  the  following 
account  of  the  attempt  by  Coligny  to  found  a  Protestant 
colony  in  Florida  may  be  told  before  closing  this  gloomy 
chapter  wherein  he  has  played  such  a  conspicuous  part. 

Coligny  had  the  far-reaching  views  of  a  statesman.  He 
wished  to  extend  French  influence,  and  to  give  to  Protes- 
tantism secure  outlets  by  founding  colonies  in  the  New 
World. 

One  of  these  colonies  he  planted  in  Florida. 

King  Philip  II.  of  Spain  determined  to  destroy  it. 
Selecting  Menendez  as  leader,  he  sent  against  the  Hu- 
guenot colony  a  force  of  2600  men.  They  landed  some 
distance  from  the  French  fort,  and  advanced  upon  it 
through  the  swamps.  The  Spaniards  were  badly  led,  and 
suffered  great  privations  and  hardships  on  the  march, 
and  could  hardly  be  kept  from  giving  up  the  expedition 
in  despair. 

The  French,  in  the  meanwhile,  had  acted  with  bad 
judgment.  Knowing  that  they  were  to  be  attacked,  they 
divided  their  forces.  Ribaut,  their  leader,  sailed  away 
with  the  flower  of  the  troops  to  attack  the  Spanish  ships. 
A  storm  arose,  wrecked  the  fleet,  and  the  men  barely  es- 
caped with  their  lives,  having  lost  guns,  ammunition,  pro- 
visions, and  clothing. 

The  garrison  they  had  left  at  the  fort  consisted  of  150 
soldiers,  of  whom  forty  were  sick. 

The  Spaniards  came  upon  this  little  band  and  surprised 
it  —  the  sentinels  having  left  their  posts  of  duty  at  pre- 
cisely the  wrong  time.  The  garrison  had  barely  time  to 
grasp  swords,  when  they  were  overpowered  and  slain. 
Twenty  escaped  to  the  woods,  and  fifteen  women  and 
children  were  spared. 


xxv  CHARLES   THE  NINTH  427 

The  men  under  Ribaut  were  floundering  around  in 
swamps,  barely  able  to  keep  alive,  and  striving  to  reach 
the  fort,  which  they  did  not  know  had  been  captured. 

When  within  five  miles  of  the  fort,  Ribaut's  scouts 
reported  that  the  Spanish  flag  was  flying  over  it. 

There  was  nothing  for  the  unarmed  Frenchmen  to  do 
but  to  struggle  back  through  the  cypress  swamps,  hoping 
to  reach  a  friendly  coast  and  a  way  home  to  France. 

Ignorant  of  the  country,  they  stumbled  right  into  the 
new  Spanish  settlement. 

Menendez  saw  them  approach.  He  had  only  forty  men 
with  him.  A  river  ran  between  him  and  the  French.  A 
parley  ensued.  Menendez  told  the  French  they  could 
either  take  to  the  woods  where  they  were  certain  to  starve, 
or  they  could  surrender  at  discretion.  The  French  sur- 
rendered. They  were  brought  across  the  river  in  small 
squads,  and  their  hands  tied  behind  their  backs. 

When  asked  if  they  were  Catholics,  eight  answered  in 
the  affirmative,  and  they  were  put  to  one  side.  The  rest 
were  all  Protestants.  Menendez  made  a  line  on  the 
ground  with  his  cane.  The  Protestants  were  marched 
up  to  the  line,  one  after  another,  and  as  they  reached  it, 
were  stabbed  to  death. 

Next  day  Ribaut  came  up  with  the  main  body  of  the 
French.  Again  there  was  parleying.  This  time  the 
Spaniards  swore  on  the  cross — which  was  duly  kissed  — 
that  the  lives  of  the  French  would  be  spared  if  they  sur- 
rendered. 

Some  of  the  French  suspected  treachery  and  escaped  to 
the  woods.  The  remainder  surrendered,  Ribaut  included. 

The  Spaniards  tied  them  back  to  back,  four  together, 
and  they  were  murdered  where  they  stood.  Four  hun- 


428  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

dred  prisoners  were  thus  butchered,  Menendez  being  pres- 
ent, and  a  priest,  Mendoza,  at  hand  to  encourage,  exhort, 
and  applaud  the  assassins. 

The  corpses  were  burnt,  and  on  the  trees  near  by 
Menendez  inscribed :  — 

"Slaughtered,  not  as  Frenchmen,  but  as  Lutherans." 

Tidings  crossed  the  seas  slowly  in  those  days,  and  it 
was  long  before  Europe  knew  the  story  of  the  tragedy 
in  Florida.  When  it  was  known,  there  was  joy  and  exul- 
tation among  the  Catholics ;  there  was  grief  and  wrath 
among  the  Protestants. 

The  French  government  would  take  no  notice  of  the 
crime.  Catherine  and  her  sons  were  too  closely  in  league 
with  Philip  II.  and  the  Pope. 

It  was  left  to  a  private  citizen  to  take  revenge  for  this 
national  grievance. 

Dominique  de  Gourgues  was  a  man  of  noble  birth  and  a 
soldier.  He  had  held  against  the  Spaniards,  in  Italy,  a 
fort  garrisoned  by  thirty  men  and  attacked  by  a  whole 
corps.  The  fort  having  been  taken,  the  Spaniards  butch- 
ered the  garrison  and  sent  its  commander  to  the  galleys. 
This  degrading  punishment,  and  the  hard  life  in  the 
galleys,  filled  De  Gourgues  with  hatred  of  the  Spaniards. 
His  ship  was  captured  by  the  Turks,  and  his  Spanish 
masters  were  chained  to  the  oars  by  his  side. 

The  vessel  was  captured  from  the  Turks  by  the  French, 
and  De  Gourgues  regained  his  freedom. 

Nine  years  he  spent  in  voyaging  to  Brazil,  Africa,  and 
the  West  Indies,  killing  Spaniards  at  every  opportu- 
nity. 

When  he  learned  the  story  of  the  Florida  tragedy,  he 
set  himself  to  avenge  it.  He  was  not  rich,  but  he  sold 


xxv  CHARLES  THE  NINTH  429 

what  he  had,  borrowed  more  from  his  brother,  equipped 
three  little  ships  with  180  soldters  and  set  sail  for  Florida. 

Landing  fifteen  leagues  north  of  the  Spanish  fort,  he 
was  largely  reenforced  by  the  Indians,  whose  hatred  the 
Spaniards  had  provoked. 

The  Spaniards  were  taken  by  surprise,  just  as  they  had 
previously  surprised  the  French.  Entirely  unsuspicious, 
the  garrison  was  at  dinner.  Suddenly  there  was  a  musket 
shot,  and  the  cry,  "The  French,  the  French!"  The 
Spaniards  lost  their  heads  completely,  and  De  Gourgues 
captured  first  the  outworks  and  then  the  fort  (Caroline) 
itself. 

Out  of  the  Spanish  force  of  300,  only  sixty  survived 
the  assault.  These  prisoners  De  Gourgues  hanged  on  the 
spot,  inscribing  over  them  the  words:  — 

"  I  do  this,  not  to  Spaniards,  but  to  traitors,  thieves, 
and  murderers." 

Then  he  destroyed  the  fort,  and  sailed  away  to  France, 
where  the  Protestants  received  him  with  great  enthusiasm 
at  Rochelle. 

Philip  II.  demanded  his  arrest  and  surrender,  and  the 
French  government  meanly  consented.  Coligny,  how- 
ever, interposed,  and  the  government,  for  very  shame, 
dared  not  obey  Spain. 

After  Coligny's  death,  De  Gourgues  found  a  protector 
in  Montluc  —  a  zealous  Catholic,  but  a  true  Frenchman 
also.  At  Montluc's  death  (1577),  this  heroic  champion  of 
France  had  to  seek  asylum  in  England,  where  he  died 
in  1583. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

HENRY   THE  THIRD 

TN  the  neighbourhood  of  Cracow,  Poland,  in  June,  1574, 

there  was  to  be  seen  something  which  was  new  under 
the  sun. 

A  king  of  Poland  was  running  away  from  his  job, 
A.D.  and  his  faithful  subjects  were  out  armed  with  sticks, 
1674  scythe-blades,  and  other  rude  persuasives,  trying  to  catch 
him. 

The  third  son  of  Henry  II.  had  been  elected  king  of 
Poland  May  9,  1573,  had  arrived  to  take  his  seat  Janu- 
ary, 1574,  had  been  solemnly  and  ceremoniously  conse- 
crated and  crowned  at  Cracow  on  the  24th  of  February 
following. 

About  the  middle  of  June  news  reached  him  that  his 
brother  Charles  had  died,  childless,  at  Paris.  This  made 
him  heir  to  the  crown  of  France,  and  he  was  advised  to 
set  out  at  once  to  claim  the  more  splendid  dignity.  His 
obvious  duty  was  to  resign  the  Polish  crown  in  due  form, 
with  thanks  for  the  honour  done  him.  But  Henry  was 
afraid  that  the  Poles,  being  an  outlandish  people,  and  a 
rude,  might  hold  him  to  his  contract,  and  not  allow  him 
to  leave  them  to  face  life  kingless.  Therefore  he  decided 
to  slip  away.  Having  had  horses  secretly  stationed  half 
a  league  out  of  town,  he  walked  that  distance,  attended 
by  a  few  of  his  friends,  as  if  taking  an  airing.  On  reach- 

430 


CHAP,  xxvi  HENRY  THE   THIRD  431 

ing  the  horses,  he  mounted  in  haste,  galloped  away  from 
his  faithful  Poles,  rode  all  night,  and  never  drew  rein  till 
he  reached  the  Austrian  frontier. 

The  flight  of  the  king  created  a  great  uproar  in  Cracow. 
The  Poles  felt  that  they  must  catch  their  king.  In  hot 
haste,  pell-mell,  helter-skelter,  they  tumbled  out  into  the 
highway,  armed  with  what  weapons  they  could  find,  and 
took  up  the  pursuit  of  the  royal  runaway. 

They  did  not  overtake  him  ;  Poland  was  left  to  hunt 
another  costly  figurehead,  while  Henry  galloped  on 
through  the  summer  night :  galloped  on  to  plunge  him- 
self into  the  gloom  and  distraction  of  fifteen  years  of  the 
maddest,  foulest,  weakest  rule  king  ever  knew ;  on  to  the 
black  day  when  he  was  to  murder  Guise ;  and  on  to  that 
last  day  of  all  when  Clement,  the  monk,  was  to  go  to 
meet  him  with  the  knife  in  his  murderous  hand. 

As  a  souvenir  of  his  brief  sojourn  in  Poland,  the  fugi- 
tive king  brought  away  the  crown  jewels  of  the  kingdom 
he  had  deserted. 

In  Vienna,  Venice,  and  the  Italian  cities  along  the  road 
to  France,  Henry  spent  two  months  in  dissipation  of  every 
kind  ;  and  when  he  finally  entered  Paris,  he  was  attended 
by  such  a  mob  of  loose  women,  profligate  youth,  donkeys, 
parrots,  monkeys,  and  lap-dogs,  that  the  grotesque  gather- 
ing inspired  general  disgust. 

Henry  III.  was  not  entirely  wanting  in  ability  or 
courage,  but  he  was  hopelessly  weak,  vacillating,  and  un- 
manly. Not  capable  of  great  things  at  his  best,  he  was, 
at  his  worst,  a  mere  fribble,  given  over  to  feminine  pur- 
suits, childish  amusements,  and  scandalous  attachments. 
At  one  moment  he  edified  the  orthodox  by  putting  on 
penitential  garb  and  walking  barefooted  in  some  religious 


432  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

procession  ;  at  another  he  masqueraded  through  the  streets 
as  a  beggar,  asking  alms  from  door  to  door,  accompanied 
by  his  royal  wife,  by  a  group  of  boon  companions  of  both 
sexes,  and  by  a  train  of  pet  animals.  On  another  occa- 
sion he  appeared  at  a  splendid  banquet  in  the  palace, 
dressed  as  a  courtesan,  and  acting  the  character,  although 
his  mother  was  present  with  the  court. 

The  same  man,  controlled  by  another  and  far  different 
mood,  could  plan  the  death  of  the  all-powerful  Guise, 
could  sweep  aside  that  uncrowned  monarch  of  France, 
and,  by  joining  forces  with  Henry  of  Navarre,  could  lay 
securely  the  foundations  of  future  peace. 

These  were  troubled  times.  The  fountains  of  the  great 
deep  of  social  order  were  broken  up.  Not  only  did 
feudalism  raise  its  head  again,  but  the  communes  re- 
asserted their  prerogatives.  Private  war  raged  on  all 
sides.  Duels  and  assassinations  were  of  daily  occur- 
rence. War  was  smouldering  between  Catholic  and 
Huguenot,  and  woe  to  the  one  which  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  other.  Paris  was  ruled  by  the  commune,  a 
municipal  organization  administered  by  the  famous 
Committee  of  Sixteen.  So  disordered  were  the  times 
that  this  municipal  committee  fell  upon  the  Parliament 
of  Paris  and  threw  some  forty  members  into  prison, 
the  Parliament  being  for  the  king,  while  the  Committee 
was  for  Guise. 

Catherine  de'  Medici  is  a  unique  figure  in  this  confused 
and  ever  shifting  drama.  She  is  accused  of  all  crimes  ; 
is  thought  to  be  in  all  plots  ;  is  trusted  in  turn  by  all 
parties,  only  to  be  by  all  eventually  denounced.  Pre- 
tending to  be  fond  of  Henry  of  Navarre,  she  married 
her  daughter  to  him  ;  yet  when  Henry's  mother  sud- 


xxvi  HENRY  THE   THIRD  433 

denly  died,  he  openly  accused  Catherine  of  poisoning  her. 
Negotiating  with  Guise  up  to  the  very  day  of  his  death, 
she  was  first  his  enemy,  then  his  friend.  She  plotted 
with  him  Coligny's  murder  and  the  Massacre  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew ;  she  saved  his  life  just  before  the  "  Day  of 
the  Barricades  "  ;  she  was  his  secret  ally  against  her  own 
son,  and,  at  the  end,  she  sanctioned  his  assassination. 

She  used  L'Hopital  and  the  Politicians,  as  the  mod- 
erate party  of  Catholics  and  Huguenots  were  called,  so 
long  as  it  was  possible  to  use  them,  then  sacrificed  them  to 
the  Guises,  and  went  over  to  the  extremists  of  the  League. 

Her  own  sons  were  not  safe  from  her  duplicity.  It 
seems  certain  that  she  purposely  encouraged  them  in 
idleness  and  profligacy  in  order  to  gather  power  from 
their  feebleness,  and  she  was  surrounded  by  a  bevy  of 
seductive  young  women  who  served  as  her  decoys. 

In  her  court,  at  her  banquets,  before  her  very  eyes, 
were  enacted  scenes  of  scandalous  immorality,  and  the 
atmosphere  in  which  she  moved  reeked  of  intrigue,  of 
vice,  and  of  crime. 

If  the  historian  were  required  to  name  a  time  in  French 
history  in  which  all  moral,  social,  and  political  ties  were 
loosened,  and  in  which  religion  became  a  mere  cover  for 
ambition  and  an  excuse  for  murder,  rapine,  and  rebellion, 
he  would  probably  select  the  reign  of  Henry  III.,  the  last 
of  the  Valois. 

From  the  pulpit  priests  thundered  against  heresy,  and 
against  a  king  who  tolerated  it,  and  violently  preached 
the  doctrine  that  tyrannicide  was  an  act  of  heroism.  The 
churches  became  the  storm-centres  of  sedition.  Every 
political  measure  was  there  discussed,  and  adopted  or 
condemned. 

2F 


434  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Each  noble  had  his  band  of  cut-throats  ready  to  do 
his  bidding  if  a  troublesome  foe  were  in  the  way.  The 
law  of  the  land  was  powerless  to  reach  the  great ;  they 
were  absolutely  above  the  jurisdiction  of  courts. 

The  Pope  plotted  against  Henry  III.  and  encouraged 
his  subjects  to  treason ;  Philip  II.  hired  an  assassin  to 
kill  William  the  Silent,  and  publicly  rewarded  the  mur- 
derer. Elizabeth  of  England,  after  some  years  of  hesita- 
tion, deliberately  put  to  death  Mary  of  Scotland,  her 
prisoner ;  Margaret  of  Valois,  wife  of  Henry  of  Navarre, 
wishing  an  enemy  killed,  repaid  the  assassin  by  admitting 
him  to  her  royal  favours ;  the  Duke  de  Villiquier  stabbed 
his  wife  for  repulsing  the  advances  of  the  king,  who  there- 
upon appointed  him  governor  of  Paris. 

Montluc,  a  Catholic  commander,  boasted  that  his  march 
could  be  followed  by  the  dead  Huguenots  hanging  on  the 
trees  ;  while  Briquemont,  the  Huguenot  commander,  wore 
with  boastful  pride  a  necklace  of  priests'  ears. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  Henry  III.  was  to  put  to  death 
the  constable  Montgomery,  who  had  been  taken  prisoner 
in  the  last  civil  war.  He  was  one  of  the  most  illustrious 
Protestant  chiefs,  and  his  execution  created  intense  anger 
among  them. 

It  was  Montgomery  who  had  accidentally  killed  Henry 
II.,  and  no  doubt  the  fate  which  now  overtook  him  was 
partly  due  to  that  fact. 

There  was  war  even  in  the  palace.  The  king  distrusted 
his  only  brother,  the  Duke  of  Alengon,  and  sought  to 
have  him  assassinated. 

The  duke  escaped  from  the  palace,  hastened  to  the 
south,  and  joined  the  confederated  Huguenots  and  mal- 
contents. 


xxvi  HENRY  THE   THIRD  436 

Armies  began  to  move,  and  the  young  Duke  of  Guise 
distinguished  himself  by  the  victory  of  Dormans,  where 
he  put  to  flight  a  force  of  German  Lutherans  who  were 
coming  to  reenforce  the  Huguenots. 

In  this  action,  Guise  was  shot  by  a  trooper  he  was 
pursuing,  and  lost  his  left  ear  and  part  of  the  cheek. 
Hence  his  nickname  of  Le  Balafre,  or  The  Scarred. 
From  this  time  forward  he  was  the  hero  of  the  Catholics. 

The  Duke  of  Alengon  marched  toward  Paris  at   the    A.D. 
head    of    an   army,    upon    which    Catherine    de'    Medici    15'6 
gathered  up  some  of  her  most  winning  damsels,  and  paid 
her  son  a  visit.     Her  own  arts  of  persuasion  were  so  well 
seconded   by  the  obliging  ladies  of  her   train    that   the 
ardour  of  warfare  gently  oozed  out  of  the  duke,  and  he 
sank  languidly  into  negotiation  and  peace.     His  mother 
agreed  to  triple  his  possessions,  and'  he  quitted  the  ranks 
of  the  Reformers. 

By  this  treaty  (1576),  the  Huguenots  obtained  per- 
mission to  worship  according  to  their  religion  throughout 
the  kingdom,  except  in  Paris,  and  the  privilege  of  holding 
a  free  and  general  council.  Several  places  of  refuge  were 
ceded  to  them,  and  mixed  tribunals,  half-Catholic  and  half- 
Huguenot,  were  established. 

Henry  of  Navarre  had  eluded  the  vigilance  of  Catherine, 
had  torn  himself  away  from  the  seductions  of  her  ladies, 
and  had  escaped  from  the  court,  where  he  had  been 
detained  ever  since  St.  Bartholomew's  Day. 

In  a  letter,  which  he  wrote  to  a  friend  a  short  time 
before  his  flight,  he  said  :  — 

"  The  court  is  the  strangest  place  you  ever  saw.  We 
are  almost  ready  to  cut  one  another's  throats.  We  wear 
daggers,  shirts  of  mail,  and  very  often  a  whole  cuirass 


436  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

under  our  cape.  I  am  only  waiting  for  a  chance  to  fight ; 
for  they  tell  me  they  will  kill  me,  and  I  want  to  be  before- 
hand." 

If  this  spirit  of  rancorous  hatred  was  the  legacy  of  the 
St.  Bartholomew  in  the  court  circles,  we  can  imagine  what 
it  was  among  the  people  themselves. 

Caesar  himself  would  have  needed  all  his  sagacity,  all 
his  courage,  and  all  his  clemency  in  dealing  with  a  situa- 
tion so  perilous. 

By  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  1576,  just  mentioned, 
Henry  of  Navarre  obtained  Guienne,  while  Conde  was 
given  Picardy. 

The  Huguenots  were  now  led  by  men  who  put  self- 
interest  first  and  religion  second.  It  was  no  longer  a 
mere  abstract  principle  of  right  for  which  the  leaders 
were  willing  to  perish  rather  than  compromise. 

Protestantism  in  France  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
practical  politicians ;  for  the  present  there  was  a  truce 
between  the  sects,  though  it  was  an  armed  one.  The 
opposing  forces  were  not  disbanded.  The  feeling  of 
insecurity  was  general,  and  each  party  stood  with  its 
hand  on  its  sword. 

The  Catholics  were  intensely  dissatisfied  with  the 
concessions  granted  to  the  Huguenots.  They  regarded 
it  as  a  betrayal  of  their  cause  by  the  king  and,  incited 
by  the  Jesuits,  Catholic  leagues  began  to  be  formed  for 
the  purpose  of  preserving  the  supremacy  of  the  true 
faith. 

Henry  of  Guise,  the  bold  and  skilful  son  of  the  most 
popular  man  in  France,  who  had  lost  his  life  in  the 
Catholic  cause,  as  has  been  already  told,  was  himself 
the  hero  of  the  nation  at  this  critical  juncture.  He 


xxvi  HENKY   THE  THIRD  437 

was  rich  and  spent  his  money  like  a  prince  ;  he  was  brave 
and  had  all  the  dash  of  a  knightly  cavalier ;  he  was 
ambitious  and  he  moved  toward  a  great  opportunity 
with  consummate  address  and  tireless  zeal. 

He  realized  at  a  glance  the  tremendous  potency  of 
the  secret  order  which  had  begun  to  spring  up  among 
the  Catholics.  He  developed  it  into  a  system,  gave  it 
a  constitution,  and  directed  its  energies  to  a  definite 
purpose.  That  purpose  was  to  depose  Henry  III. 
as  an  incapable  debauchee,  set  aside  his  brother,  now 
called  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  because  he  had  made  friends 
with  the  Huguenots,  and  put  Guise  himself  on  the  vacant 
throne  ;  Henry  of  Navarre,  next  of  kin  to  the  Valois, 
being  a  Huguenot,  and  therefore  more  hateful  to  the 
Catholics  than  Henry  III.  This  secret  league  had  the 
approval  of  the  Pope,  and  Philip  II.  promised  to  aid  it 
with  men  and  money. 

The  States  General  assembled  at  Blois,  December,  1576,    A.D. 
and  was  composed  of  deputies  devoted  to  Guise.     Only   15'6 
one  Protestant  member  had  been  elected.     The  assembly 
demanded  that  resolutions  passed  by  them  should  have 
the  force  of  laws,  and  that  thirty-six  of  their  members, 
chosen   by   them,    should   assist   the   king  in   governing 
the  country.      Henry    parried    this   blow  by   espousing 
the  cause  of  the  league,  declaring  himself  its  chief,  and 
proclaiming  his  purpose  to  suppress  heresy. 

Another  outbreak  of  civil  war  followed  ;    but  it  was    A.D. 
not  marked  by  any  events   of   special  importance,   and    1577 
peace  was  again  made  in  1577.     The  Huguenots  secured 
fairly  good  terms,  and  there  was  more  or  less  tranquillity 
in  the  troubled  State  for  two  or  three  years. 

Taxes  were  increased  from  time  to  time,  and  the  money 


438  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

A.D.  wasted  in  court  festivities.  A  seventh  civil  war  broke 
out  in  1580,  raged  for  a  short  time,  and  died  down  as 
suddenly  as  it  had  begun.  Nobody  knows  precisely 
what  started  it  or  stopped  it. 

A.D.  In  1581,  the  Duke  of  Anjou  led  an  expedition  into  the 
Netherlands  to  aid  the  Flemings  in  their  revolt  against 
1583  Philip  II.  of  Spain.  The  duke  met  with  some  success 
at  first,  and  was  formally  proclaimed  Duke  of  Brabant 
and  Count  of  Flanders.  He  ruined  everything,  however, 
by  embroiling  himself  in  civil  strife  with  the  Flemings 
themselves,  was  guilty  of  a  bloody  massacre  of  citizens  in 
Amsterdam,  and  the  indignant  country  rose  against  him 
and  drove  him  out.  He  retired  to  his  own  domains  and 
there  died,  it  is  said,  of  rage  and  chagrin  (1584). 

The  death  of  Anjou  left  Henry  III.  the  sole  representa- 
tive of  the  House  of  Valois,  and  the  question  of  the 
succession  became  more  important  than  ever.  It  was 
believed  that  Henry  III.  was  incapable  of  begetting 
children  ;  Henry  of  Navarre,  the  despised  Huguenot,  was 
next  heir  to  the  throne. 

Once  more  the  League  revived,  its  purpose  being  to 
put  down  the  Huguenots,  exclude  Navarre  from  the 
throne,  and  elevate  Guise  instead. 

Philip  II.  of  Spain  united  himself  with  Guise  by 
formal  treaty,  and  the  Pope  gave  him  complete  liberty 
of  action.  To  cloak  the  real  purpose  of  Guise,  it  was 
agreed  to  use  the  old  Cardinal  Bourbon,  next  heir  after 
Navarre,  as  the  candidate  of  the  League  for  the  crown. 

The  priests  received  their  instructions,  and  began  to 
stir  up  the  Catholic  masses.  The  pulpits  resounded  with 
appeals  to  passion.  The  smouldering  embers  of  religious 
hate  were  fanned  into  flame.  Henry  of  Navarre  was 


xxvi  HENRY  THE  THIRD  439 

denounced,  and  fearful  pictures  drawn  of  the  tortures 
Catholics  would  undergo  if  a  heretic  came  into  power. 
The  people  were  mad  with  excitement  and  clamoured  for 
war.  To  the  universal  noise  Rome  added  her  thunders ; 
the  Pope  excommunicated  Henry  of  Navarre,  and  declared 
him  incapable  of  inheriting  the  crown. 

Henry  III.  bent  before  the  storm  and  made  a  complete    A.D. 

1  ^ft^ 

surrender  to  the  League,  and  thus  the  sceptre  passed  to 
Guise.  From  that  time  the  duke  was  the  master.  Henry 
prohibited  the  Protestant  worship  throughout  France, 
and  agreed  to  deliver  up  certain  towns  to  the  duke  and 
to  pay  his  foreign  troops. 

The  Huguenots  flew  to  arms,  and  the  eighth  civil  war  A.D. 
ensued. 

The  Protestants  had  able  leaders,  the  first  of  whom  was 
Henry  of  Navarre.  After  him  came  the  Princes  of  Conde 
and  Conti,  the  Dukes  of  La  Rochefoucauld  and  Rohan, 
the  brothers  Laval,  the  brave  old  La  Noue,  besides  La 
Tremouille,  Roquelaure,  and  Biron.  Rosny  —  after- 
wards Duke  of  Sully — sold  the  timber  on  his  estates 
and  brought  the  money  to  the  service  of  the  needy 
Navarre. 

The  king  sent  an  army  against  the  Huguenots  ;  Henry  A.C. 
of  Navarre  met  this  force  at  Coutras  (1587),  and  in  two  1587 
hours  destroyed  it. 

He  lost  the  fruits  of  the  victory,  however,  by  galloping 
off  to  lay  the  standards  he  had  taken  at  the  feet  of 
his  mistress,  the  beautiful  Gabrielle  d'Estrees,  Countess  of 
Grammont. 

Before  he  could  get  back  to  business,  Guise  had  inter- 
cepted the  German  auxiliaries,  which  Henry  should  have 
joined,  had  beaten  them  at  Vimory  and  again  at  Auneau 


440  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

(1587).  Navarre's  own  army  disbanded  because  he  could 
not  pay  the  troops. 

The  result  of  the  campaign  was  that  Guise  was  more 
powerful  than  ever.  As  Henry  III.  reentered  Paris,  he 
was  met  by  acclamations  which  plainly  told  him  of  the 
contempt  in  which  he  was  held  ;  and  in  a  few  days  the 
Sorbonne  decided  that  "the  government  could  be  taken 
out  of  the  hands  of  kings  found  incapable  of  ruling." 

Henry  became  alarmed  and  sent  written  orders  to 
Guise  not  to  enter  Paris.  For  want  of  ready  money  to 
pay  a  courier,  this  letter  was  sent  to  Guise  by  mail,  and 
he  denied  receiving  it.  He  entered  Paris  in  defiance  of 
the  king,  and  boldly  presented  himself  unattended  at  the 
palace,  having  first  called  upon  Catherine  de'  Medici,  who 
accompanied  him  to  the  royal  presence. 

Henry's  wrath  was  great.  "I  told  you  not  to  come 
here,"  he  said  sternly  to  the  duke. 

In  answer,  Guise  said  that  he  had  come  to  reply  in  per- 
son to  the  attacks  of  his  enemies  who  had  slandered  him 
to  the  king. 

Henry  was  urged  to  kill  his  foe  then  and  there,  and  one 
of  his  followers  asked  leave  to  do  it,  but  Catherine  ob- 
jected, and  the  king  let  the  opportunity  pass.  When 
Guise  came  to  the  palace  again  he  had  his  friends  around 
him. 

Bearded  in  this  manner,  the  furious  king  ordered  into 
Paris  the  Swiss  mercenaries  and  the  French  guards  upon 
whom  he  thought  he  could  rely. 

Paris  was  devoted  to  the  duke,  and  it  now  rose  in 
revolt.  Chains  were  stretched  across  the  streets,  and 
barricades  arose  behind  them. 

For  two  days  the  king  and  his  rebellious  duke  fortified 


xxvi  HENRY  THE  THIRD  441 

themselves  in  their  respective  palaces,  each  expecting  the 
other  to  attack. 

The  Swiss  were  about  to  be  massacred  by  the  frenzied 
mob,  when  Guise  issued  from  his  palace,  clad  in  a  white 
doublet,  carrying  only  a  small  stick  in  his  hand,  and 
calmed  the  storm  as  if  by  magic. 

Rescuing  the  Swiss,  he  sent  them  back  to  the  king  with 
insulting  scorn,  and  for  two  hours  he  stood  in  the  streets, 
where  Catherine  de'  Medici  had  caused  herself  to  be  car- 
ried in  a  litter,  discussing  with  the  queen-mother  terms 
of  accommodation  with  the  king.  While  this  debate  was 
in  progress,  Henry  III.  had  fled  from  his  palace  and  from 
Paris.  He  took  up  his  residence  at  Blois,  threatening  to 
return  to  Paris  through  a  breach  in  the  walls. 

Guise  was  now  in  a  critical  position.  The  king  was  no 
longer  in  his  power.  He  was  distinctly  in  rebellion,  for 
the  first  time  ;  and  while  Paris  was  his,  and  also  the  great 
body  of  the  League,  still  his  position  was  radically  differ- 
ent and  radically  weaker  than  it  had  been. 

Royalty  yet  retained  a  certain  divinity  in  the  eyes  of 
the  nation,  and  to  make  war  upon  their  king  was  a  huge 
novelty  to  the  French  people.  Besides,  Guise  had  at  last 
thrown  aside  the  mask,  and  was  seen  as  an  aspirant  to 
the  throne,  which  further  lessened  the  strength  of  his 
position. 

The  duke  realized  all  this,  and  began  to  negotiate. 
To  the  amazement  of  all,  he  obtained  terms  which  the 
king  had  refused  on  the  "Day  of  the  Barricades." 

Henry  swore  to  exterminate  the  heretics,  declared  that  a    A.I>. 

1  r  oo 

non-Catholic  could  not  inherit  the  crown,  appointed  Guise 
lieutenant-general  of  the  kingdom,  and  convoked  the 
States  General  at  Blois. 


442  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

The  designs  of  Guise  were  now  boldly  proclaimed. 
Prominent  leaguers  talked  of  shutting  Henry  up  in  a 
cloister  and  making  Guise  constable  of  the  kingdom. 
The  duke's  sister,  the  Duchess  of  Montpensier,  wore  at 
her  girdle  a  pair  of  golden  scissors,  destined,  as  she  said, 
to  cut  the  hair  and  shear  the  monkish  crown  of  the 
deposed  Henry. 

These  rash  speeches  were  reported  to  the  king,  and 
they  drove  him,  at  last,  to  a  desperate  resolution  —  to 
kill  his  relentless  enemy,  even  if  he  had  to  do  the  deed 
himself. 

But  in  token  of  complete  reconciliation  with  the  duke, 
he  partook  of  the  holy  sacrament  with  him,  and  in  doing 
so  vowed  friendship  for  the  future,  and  forgetfulness  of 
the  past. 

An  assassin  was  needed,  and  Henry  turned  to  the 
forty-five  gentlemen  of  his  guard.  First,  he  sounded 
its  chief,  the  brave  Crillon,  who  refused.  Crillon 
offered  to  challenge  Guise,  and  kill  him  in  fair  fight  if 
he  could  ;  but  assassinate  him,  never ! 

The  baffled  monarch  turned  to  others,  and  found  them 
more  compliant.  Lognac  offered  to  take  charge  of  the 
matter,  and  the  king  trusted  it  to  him. 

Vague  rumours  of  the  plot  against  the  duke  got  abroad, 
and  he  was  warned  nine  different  times. 

"  They  dare  not,"  was  his  reply,  and  he  took  no  pre- 
cautions. 

The  king  himself  bought  the  daggers  for  the  deed, 
gave  them  with  his  own  hands  to  the  assassins,  and 
stationed  them  at  their  places. 

Guise  was  to  attend  a  meeting  of  the  council,  in  the 
royal  chamber,  at  six  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  December 


xxvi  HENRY  THE   THIRD  443 

23,  1588.     The  murderers  were  placed  upon  the  stair,  in   A.D. 
the  anteroom,  and  in  the  king's  chamber.     As  the  duke   1588 
entered,  the  door  was  closed   behind  him,  and  he  was 
conducted  to  the  anteroom.     In  the  act  of  stooping  to  lift 
the  tapestry  which  hung  before  the  door,  he  was  stabbed. 
Lognac  and  the  guards  struck  him  down,  and  he  died 
at  the  foot  of  the  king's  bed,  having  dragged  his  murder- 
ers across  the  room. 

Henry  gazed  long  and  fixedly  upon  the  body,  remarked 
upon  its  surprising  length,  and  kicked  it  —  as  the  dead 
man  had  kicked  Coligny's  dead  body,  years  before. 

"  Madam,  I  am  again  king,"  said  Henry  to  his  mother, 
who  was  lying  upon  her  deathbed. 

"  It  is  well  cut  out,  my  son,"  she  responded ;  "  but 
there's  the  sewing  yet  to  be  done." 

The  cardinal  of  Lorraine,  brother  of  Guise,  was  killed 
the  next  day.  The  men  who  had  been  quite  ready  to 
murder  the  duke,  hung  back  stubbornly  at  the  idea  of 
slaying  a  cardinal.  It  required  great  effort  on  the  part 
of  the  king,  seconded  by  extra  pay,  before  he  could  get 
the  cardinal  despatched. 

Guise's  blood  is  said  still  to  mark  the  floor  of  the  old 
palace  of  Blois,  and  the  curious  traveller  lingers  in  the 
rooms,  fascinated  by  the  details  of  one  of  the  darkest 
crimes  in  history. 

Henry  III.  was  a  cfevout  mortal  ;  he  had  mass  celebrated 
while  the  murder  was  being  done,  and  he  directed  that 
prayer  should  be  offered,  beseeching  God  to  prosper  him 
in  his  undertaking. 

Great  was  the  fury  of  the  Catholics  when  the  tidings 
flew  abroad  that  the  Balafre,  the  hero  of  the  League,  had 
been  foully  slain. 


444  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

The  churches  resounded  with  curses,  with  fierce  de- 
mands for  vengeance.  The  Sorbonne  fulminated,  decree- 
ing that  the  French  people  were  freed  from  their  oath  of 
allegiance.  Rome  fulminated,  decreeing  that  Henry 
was  forever  cast  out  and  damned  to  all  eternity. 

Processions  thronged  the  streets,  carrying  torches  to  the 
churches,  and  praying  frantically  that  the  accursed  race 
of  Valois  might  be  extinguished  as  those  torches  were 
extinguished,  then  and  there.  Paris  was  in  open  revolt, 
and  so  were  many  of  the  chief  cities  of  the  kingdom.  In 
fact,  Henry  was  almost  a  king  without  a  throne. 

Catherine  de'  Medici   was  now  dead,   and  the    last  of 

the  Valois  turned  to  Henry  of  Navarre.     An  interview 

A.D.    took  place  between  the  two  kings  at  Plessis-les-Tours,  the 

1589 

old  fortress  of  Louis  XI.  Cordial  relations  were  at  once 
established  between  them,  and  Henry  of  Navarre  went 
vigorously  to  work  to  subdue  the  rebellion.  In  two 
months  he  was  master  of  the  country  between  the  Loire 
and  the  Seine.  His  forces  constantly  increased,  and  on 
the  evening  of  July  30,  1589,  the  two  kings,  with  40,000 
men,  appeared  before  Paris.  The  great  city  was  in  con- 
sternation ;  but  in  the  heart  of  the  clergy  there  was 
concentrated  passion  and  determination.  The  Duchess 
of  Montpensier  left  nothing  undone  to  awaken  the  frenzy 
of  the  people,  and  to  inspire  some  fanatic  to  save  the 
true  religion  by  assassinating  the  recreant  king. 

The  city  was  to  be  stormed  on  the  2d  of  August.  On 
the  morning  of  August  1st,  a  young  friar  from  the  Domin- 
ican convent,  Jacques  Clement,  came  out  from  Paris  and 
took  the  road  to  the  king's  quarters.  Asking  a  private 
interview  with  the  king,  upon  the  ground  that  he  had  im- 
portant secrets  to  tell,  and  being  granted  it,  he  stabbed 
Henry  in  the  stomach,  fatally. 


xxvi  HENRY  THE  THIRD  445 

"The  wicked  monk  has  killed  me,"  cried  the  king, 
drawing  the  knife  from  the  wound,  and  striking  the  mur- 
derer in  the  face  with  it. 

The  guards  came  running  up  and  slew  the  monk  who 
had  avenged  Guise. 

Henry  of  Navarre  hastened  to  the  king,  who  urged  him 
to  turn  Catholic,  and  thus  assure  his  peaceful  accession. 

This  advice  Henry  rejected  at  the  time,  but  finally 
adopted  after  years  of  civil  war. 

The  king  died  the  same  night,  and  thus  the  royal  race 
of  Valois  became  extinct. 

To  this  wretched  end  had  come  the  gallop  from  Cracow ; 
and  to  this  comprehensive  failure  had  come  all  the  subtle- 
ties, poisonings,  treacheries,  and  massacres  of  Catherine 
de'  Medici. 

Fanaticism  and  gratified  hatred  never  gave  themselves 
over  to  such  an  outburst  of  fierce  exultation  as  they  did 
when  news  reached  Paris  that  Clement  had  killed  the 
king.  Bells  were  rung  and  bonfires  lighted  ;  the  Duchess 
of  Montpensier  hugged  the  man  who  brought  her  the 
information,  and  in  a  transport  of  joy  rode  through  the 
streets  with  her  mother,  crying  "  Good  news,"  and  encour- 
aging the  tumultuous  rejoicings  of  the  people.  Priests 
from  their  pulpit  proclaimed  the  martyrdom  of  Clement 
and  called  him  a  saint ;  his  portrait  was  laid  upon  the 
altars,  and  the  people  knelt  before  it.  His  mother,  a  poor 
villager,  was  taken  into  the  palace  of  the  Duchess  of 
Montpensier,  and  great  crowds  flocked  to  see  her  and  pay 
her  honour.  The  Sixteen  apostrophized  the  assassin, 
exclaiming,  "  Blessed  is  the  womb  that  bore  thee,"  while 
at  Rome  the  rejoicings  among  the  faithful  were  equally 
pronounced. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

HENRY  THE  FOURTH 

TTENRY  of  Navarre  was  now  in  the  prime  of  life, 
A.D.  thoroughly  seasoned  in  mind  and  body  for  the  great 

task  which  lay  before  him. 

To  win  a  crown  which  the  Pope  said  he  should  not  have, 
which  Philip  of  Spain  said  he  should  not  have,  and  which 
a  great  majority  of  the  French  people  said  he  should  not 
have  —  this  was  his  task. 

The  first  indications  of  his  existence  had  been  recog- 
nized by  his  mother  amid  the  cannons  and  the  trumpets 
of  a  camp  in  Picardy,  and  she,  the  heroic  Jeanne 
d'Albret,  had  sung  a  gay  Bearnese  song  as  she  went 
through  the  pangs  of  his  birth.  "Thus,"'  said  his 
grandfather,  "  thou  shalt  not  bring  us  a  morose  and  sulky 
child."  The  lips  of  the  infant  were  brushed  with  a  clove 
of  garlic  and  moistened  with  a  drop  of  Gascon  wine. 
"Thus,"  said  the  grandfather,  "shall  the  boy  be  both 
merry  and  bold." 

This  same  grandfather  allowed  him  to  run  about  bare- 
footed and  bareheaded,  like  a  peasant,  so  that  he  became 
hardy,  active,  and  strong.  He  was  fed  on  black  bread, 
beef,  and  garlic,  and  taught  to  shoot,  to  ride,  and  to  tell 
the  truth.  His  mother  was  a  Huguenot  and,  after  her 
husband's  death,  proclaimed  her  faith,  and  taught  it  to  her 
son ;  but  Henry  was  never  a  man  of  books,  and  the 
religious  element  was  altogether  wanting  in  his  character. 

446 


CHAP,  xxvn  HENRY  THE  FOURTH  447 

At  the  age  of  fifteen  his  mother  carried  him  to  the 
Huguenot  camp  at  Rochelle,  and  the  Reformers  made  him 
their  chief.  This  nominal  recognition  he  bore  worthily  in 
the  battles  which  followed;  and  from  the  real  leaders, 
Coligny,  Conde,  and  Nassau,  he  received  his  first  practical 
lessons  in  the  art  of  war. 

After  the  peace,  he  and  his  mother  went  to  court,  and 
the  death  of  his  mother  soon  followed.  Then  came  his 
own  marriage  with  the  French  king's  sister,  Margaret  of 
Valois.  On  the  day  of  the  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew 
the  maniac  king  shouted  to  him,  "  The  mass  or  death," 
and  Henry  became  for  the  time  a  nominal  Catholic. 

For  four  years  he  was  held  at  court,  free  in  all  things 
except  in  the  liberty  to  leave.  If  he  ever  had  any  morals, 
he  now  lost  them.  The  gayest  rake  in  Paris  was  not 
more  dissolute  than  he.  During  these  four  years  he 
sounded  the  depths  of  this  most  depraved  of  courts.  He 
learned  all  of  its  wiles,  its  intrigues,  its  hypocrisies,  its 
want  of  scruple,  of  honesty,  of  shame.  At  one  time  he  is 
asked  by  the  queen-mother  to  attempt  the  life  of  her  son  ; 
at  another  the  king,  Henry  III.,  implores  him  to  assassi- 
nate his  brother  ;  at  one  time  he  is  found  with  Henry  III. 
fighting  Huguenots  ;  at  another  he  is  with  the  king's 
brother  and  the  Huguenots,  fighting  the  king. 

When  at  length  he  made  his  escape,  his  education  in 
practical  politics  had  been  completed. 

He  was  shiftier  than  the  shiftiest,  nimbler  than  the 
nimblest,  trickier  than  the  trickiest,  and  as  coldly,  craft- 
ily, relentlessly  bent  upon  seizing  the  crown  as  Guise 
himself. 

In  the  four  quiet  years  which  followed  the  peace  of 
Fleix,  Henry  lived  at  Pau  in  his  kingdom  of  Navarre. 


448  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

In  one  respect,  at  least,  his  court  was  modelled  on  that  of 
Paris  :  Henry  had  his  seraglio,  and  his  wife  had  her 
lovers.  Margaret  detested  Henry,  and  Henry  disliked 
Margaret  —  while  they  both  were  devoted  to  licentious 
pleasures. 

Henry,  however,  was  politically  important,  as  the  chief 
of  the  Huguenots.  Coligny,  Conde,  Montgomery,  and 
many  others  of  the  old  leaders  being  dead,  Henry  III., 
badgered  by  the  Guises,  and  worried  by  his  brother  and 
his  mother,  sought  an  alliance  with  Navarre.  He  be- 
sought Henry  to  come  to  Paris  and  join  the  Catholic 
Church,  thus  strengthening  the  king's  position  against 
Guise,  and  also  his  own. 

The  chief  of  Navarre's  council,  De  Segur,  thought  the 
suggestion  wise,  and  so  advised  his  master. 

D'Aubigne,  however,  took  Segur  aside,  and  proposed  to 
pitch  him  out  of  the  window  if  he  did  not  change  his  mind. 
This  window  overhung  a  deep  chasm,  and  Segur  did  not 
like  the  looks  of  it  at  all,  nor  did  he  grow  bolder  when  he 
glanced  round  and  saw,  close  at  hand,  certain  Huguenot 
soldiers  standing  silent  and  grim,  with  hats  drawn  down 
upon  their  brows,  and  wearing  a  severe  expression.  He 
yielded,  and  agreed  to  advise  Navarre  very  differently. 

The  overtures  of  Henry  III.  were,  consequently,  re- 
jected—  a  very  fatal  mistake,  as  it  seems  to  this  writer. 

About  the  same  time  that  the  king  of  France  was  ur- 
ging upon  Henry  of  Navarre  the  identical  policy  he  was 
fain  to  adopt  after  so  many  years  of  strife  and  carnage, 
Philip  II.  of  Spain  offered  him  a  bribe  of  400,000  crowns 
in  hand,  and  a  yearly  payment  of  12,000  more  if  he  would 
make  war  upon  Henry  III. 

Philip  already  had  the  Duke  of  Guise  in  his  pay  ;  had 


xxvn  HENKY  THE   FOURTH  449 

Henry  of  Navarre  yielded  also,  France  would  have  become 
a  dependency  of  Spain. 

The  crafty  Navarre  saw  the  snare  and  avoided  it :  he 
meant  to  win  France  for  himself,  not  for  Philip. 

Leader  of  the  Huguenots  as  he  was,  Henry  of  Navarre 
kept  the  door  open  behind  him  always  ;  and  he  never 
ceased  to  say  to  the  Catholics  :  "  If  I  am  wrong,  instruct 
me." 

Thus,  while  holding  to  the  Protestants,  he  kept  many 
moderate  Catholics  true  to  him,  in  the  belief  that  he  would 
finally  return  to  the  bosom  of  Mother  Church. 

The  murder  of  Guise  left  Henry  III.  so  encircled  by 
relentless  foes  that  an  alliance  with  Navarre  became  a 
necessity,  and  that  prince,  whose  fortunes  were  at  a  low 
ebb,  at  once  saw  his  opportunity  and  rose  to  the  crisis. 

The  murder  of  Henry  III.  brought  him  to  the  throne  ; 
but,  in  the  language  of  Catherine  de'  Medici,  "  there  was 
sewing  to  be  done." 

The  Huguenots  at  once  saluted  Navarre  as  King  of 
France,  —  Henry  IV.,  —  but  they  were  only  5000  in  an 
army  of  40,000.  In  the  Catholic  camp  the  fiercest  pas- 
sions raged. 

To  serve  with  Navarre,  the  ally  of  Henry  III.,  was  one 
thing  ;  to  serve  under  Navarre,  as  king  of  France,  was 
quite  another.  "  Better  die  than  endure  a  Huguenot 
king,"  cried  the  majority  of  the  Catholic  leaders.  A 
strong  minority  boldly  declared  for  him.  "  Sir,"  said 
De  Givry,  "  you  are  the  king  of  the  brave  ;  only  the 
cowards  will  desert  you." 

Henry's  position  was  most  difficult.  If  he  yielded  too 
much  to  the  discontented  Catholics,  he  would  drive  away 
the  Pluguenots ;  if  he  yielded  nothing,  the  discontented 

2o 


450  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Catholics  would  go  over  to  the  Guise  faction,  now  led  by 
the  Duke  of  Mayenne,  and  put  Henry  in  a  hopeless 
minority. 

The  crafty  monarch  promised  the  Huguenots  freedom  of 
worship  in  one  town  in  each  district ;  to  the  Catholics  he 
promised  full  protection  until  a  general  council  of  the  State 
could  be  called  together  to  settle  the  religious  question. 

This  compromise  was  accepted  by  many  of  the  Catholic 
nobles,  Henry  having  dealt  with  them  most  liberally  in 
the  matter  of  bribes,  pensions,  and  appointments.  A 
stubborn  minority,  led  by  the  Duke  of  Epernon,  resisted 
all  overtures,  and  left  the  camp,  followed  by  7000 
Catholic  soldiers. 

Extreme  Huguenots  were  also  disgusted.  They  bitterly 
resented  what  they  considered  the  betrayal  of  their  cause. 
La  Tremouille  led  the  defection,  and  nine  battalions  of 
Protestants  withdrew,  unwilling  "  to  serve  under  a  king 
who  protected  idolatry." 

Henry  IV.  was  left  with  half  his  army,  composed  of 
Swiss  mercenaries,  personal  friends,  moderate  Catholics, 
and  reasonable  Huguenots. 

The  Guise  faction,  back  of  which  was  Philip  II.  of 
Spain,  the  Pope,  and  the  Holy  League,  put  at  its  head 
the  Duke  of  Mayenne,  brother  of  the  murdered  Guise. 
They  pretended  to  be  striving  to  secure  the  crown  for  the 
old  Cardinal  Bourbon,  and  they  styled  him  Charles  X. 

The  wretched  land  was  now  the  prey  of  faction.  Law- 
less bands  passed  to  and  fro,  pillaging  and  oppressing. 
Rival  camps  dotted  each  province.  City  was  arrayed 
against  city,  town  against  town.  Brothers  were  found 
fighting  against  brothers,  and  fathers  against  their  own 
sons. 


xxvir  HENRY  THE  FOURTH  451 

Philip's  gold  supplied  the  sinews  of  war  to  Mayenne 
and  the  League,  it  being  his  ambition  to  secure  the  throne 
for  his  daughter  Isabella.  The  nobles  were  willing  to 
take  all  his  money  and  to  keep  up  the  reign  of  disorder, 
their  purpose  being  to  subdivide  the  kingdom  into  duke- 
doms and  principalities  for  themselves,  and  to  reestablish 
the  feudal  system. 

Henry  IV.  was  almost  a  wanderer  in  his  own  kingdom. 
He  had  no  money  ;  his  little  army  was  constantly  fluctua- 
ting, —  supporters  coming  and  supporters  leaving,  and  so 
dismal  was  the  outlook  that  he  was  in  the  very  act  of 
abandoning  the  field  to  his  foes,  and  retiring  to  the  south. 
D'Aubigne  is  credited  with  the  courageous  remonstrance 
which  kept  Henry  firm. 

Compelled  to  give  up,  for  the  present,  all  hope  of  sub-    A.D. 
duing  Paris,  the  king  marched  into  Normandy.     He  made   1589 
an  attempt  to  take  Rouen,  which  failed  ;  but  the  important 
seaport  town  of  Dieppe  opened  her  gates,  and  received 
him  with  acclamations. 

Queen  Elizabeth,  because  she  so  dearly  detested  Philip 
II.  and  wanted  to  check  the  growth  of  his  power,  came 
to  Henry's  relief  at  this  critical  moment.  She  sent  him 
12,000  English  troops,  and  a  large  supply  of  provisions, 
clothing,  money,  and  ammunition. 

The  Duke  of  Mayenne,  commanding  the  forces  of  the 
League,  advanced  against  the  king  with  a  large  army,  and 
endeavoured  to  dislodge  him  from  his  intrenchment  before 
Dieppe.  Henry  had  the  advantage  in  several  skirmishes, 
and  Mayenne  did  not  venture  a  general  assault.  Henry 
having  received  heavy  reinforcements  led  by  the  Hugue- 
not commanders,  La  Noue,  Longueville,  and  D'Aumont,  the 
Duke  of  Mayenne  drew  off  his  army,  and  marched  away 


452  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

to  effect  a  junction  with  a  Spanish  force  which  Philip  II. 
had  ordered  up  from  the  Netherlands. 

Henry's  forces  rapidly  increased,  in  consequence  of 
these  early  successes,  and  with  an  army  of  25,000  he  moved 
rapidly  on  Paris.  Under  cover  of  a  thick  fog,  the  out- 
skirts of  the  city  were  taken,  the  troops  crying,  "  St. 
Bartholomew,"  as  they  entered. 

A.D.        Hearing  that  Mayenne  was  approaching  with  superior 
1589   forces?  the  king  fell  back  into  Normandy,  of  which  he 
made  himself  master. 

If  Henry's  difficulties  were  great,  those  of  the  League 
were  greater.  On  Henry's  side  there  was  at  least  a  leader 
who  knew  what  he  wanted,  and  whose  energies  could  be 
directed  with  unity  of  purpose. 

Among  the  Leaguers  there  was  no  union  of  intent :  con- 
flicting purposes  paralyzed  their  movements  and  divided 
their  strength. 

The  Dukes  of  Lorraine  and  Savoy  meant  to  dismember 
the  kingdom.  Other  dukes  hungered  for  principalities. 
Mayenne  wanted  indefinite  war,  to  prolong  his  power  as 
lieutenant-general  of  the  kingdom,  and  to  afford  him 
time  to  absorb  unlimited  quantities  of  Philip's  money. 

The  Sixteen  at  Paris  dreamed  of  doing  away  with  kings, 
potentates,  and  powers,  altogether  ;  they  wanted,  or  sup- 
posed they  did,  a  sort  of  theocratic  republic. 

Philip  II.  of  Spain  was  using,  or  seeking  to  use,  all 
these  various  and  conflicting  factions  in  the  interest  of  his 
own  ambition.  He  claimed  the  throne  for  his  daughter, 
and  the  protectorship  of  the  kingdom  for  himself. 

But  even  this  design  was  held  in  subordination  to  his 
main  purpose,  which  was  to  keep  the  crown  of  France  on 
the  head  of  a  Catholic.  To  effect  this  end,  he  was  willing 


xxvn  HENRY   THE   FOURTH  453 

to  squander  money  till  the  expense  should  lead  him  to 
bankruptcy,  —  to  furnish  troops  until  Spain  should  be  com- 
pletely exhausted.  He  was  ready  to  resort  to  any  plan 
or  undertaking,  no  matter  how  vile,  no  matter  how  des- 
perate, no  matter  how  costly  in  money  or  blood. 

The  king  of  Spain  was  a  very  different  man  from  his 
father.  Charles  V.  had  been  a  masterful  ruler  in  his  day, 
a  man  of  action,  a  soldier  who  actually  fought,  a  general 
who  really  led.  At  the  head  of  his  armies  he  was  a  strik- 
ing figure  ;  he  had  fought  Corsairs  along  the  shores  where 
old  Carthage  once  stood,  had  confronted  embattled  Turks 
on  the  Austrian  frontier,  had  met  Luther  face  to  face  at 
Worms,  had  led  a  French  king  at  his  triumphal  car,  had 
smashed  the  league  of  Protestant  princes  at  Miihlberg, 
and  had  poured  his  victorious  troops  over  the  walls  of 
Rome,  caging  the  Pope  in  his  castle  of  St.  Angelo. 
Charles  had  been  a  man  of  flesh  and  blood,  not  a  cut- 
and-dried  automaton  of  state  moved  by  the  cogs  and 
wheels  of  court  machinery.  He  would  break  a  lance  as 
bravely  as  any  cavalier  in  his  train  ;  would  crack  a  joke, 
drink  a  glass  of  beer,  kiss  a  pretty  girl  as  readily  as  any 
gallant  of  the  court ;  and  he  would  go  into  the  ring  and 
kill  a  raging  bull  as  valiantly  as  any  matador  in  Spain. 
He  spoke  many  languages,  mixed  freely  with  his  subjects, 
was  stately  with  his  Spaniards,  familiar  with  his  Flem- 
ings, and  witty  with  his  Italians. 

He  was  ready  at  any  time  to  do  a  soldier's  work,  face 
any  foe,  meet  any  peril.  Not  that  he  was  a  man  of  dash, 
for  he  was  phlegmatic  ;  not  that  he  was  a  man  to  love, 
for  he  was  cold  as  steel,  false  as  water,  cruel  as  the  grave. 

At  the  age  of  fifty-five  Charles  V.  had  found  himself  a 
physical  wreck,  the  victim  of  the  most  wreckless  glut- 


454  THE  STORY  OF  FKANCE  CHAP. 

tony.  His  four  meals  a  day,  beginning  with  a  fowl 
seethed  in  milk  and  dressed  with  sugar  and  spices,  fol- 
lowed by  a  dinner  of  twenty  courses  and  ending  with  two 
suppers, — the  first  at  vespers  and  the  second  at  midnight, 
—  had  at  last  caused  a  violent  insurrection  throughout  his 
physical  system.  Neck,  arms,  knees,  and  hands  were 
crippled  with  gout,  running  sores  broke  out  all  over 
him,  and  he  was  tormented  in  turn  by  dyspepsia,  gravel, 
and  asthma. 

With  physical  ailments,  political  misfortunes  had  over- 
taken him.  His  armies  had  been  beaten,  and  himself 
almost  taken  prisoner.  The  Netherlands  were  threatened 
with  revolt,  the  Protestants  of  Germany  had  wrenched 
religious  toleration  from  him,  a  boyish  commander  had 
driven  him  away  from  Metz  where  he  left  60,000  dead 
soldiers,  and  the  Turk,  countenanced  by  the  Pope  and 
the  king  of  France,  was  threatening  his  dominions  in 
Naples. 

The  old  monarch  thought  it  best  to  leave  the  stage. 
It  was  time  for  him  to  go,  and  he  went.  Secluding  him- 
self in  the  monastery  of  Yuste,  he  spent  the  brief  remain- 
der of  his  life  in  fretting  at  the  mismanagement  of  his 
son  Philip ;  in  regrets  that  he  had  not  violated  his 
plighted  word  and  put  Luther  to  death  at  Worms  ;  in 
fierce  exhortations  to  the  Holy  Brotherhood  of  the  Inqui- 
sition to  burn  all  heretics ;  and  in  a  constant  round  of 
uncontrollable  gluttony,  wherein  such  health-giving  deli- 
cacies as  sardine  omelettes,  Estramadura  sausages,  fat 
flitches  of  bacon,  eel  pies,  and  pickled  partridges, 
struggled  as  best  they  could  with  quince  syrups,  iced 
beer,  and  Rhenish  wine. 

Philip  II.  the  sou  was,  as  we  have  said,  a  very  differ- 


xxvn  HENRY  THE  FOURTH  455 

ent  man.  He  was  shy,  haughty,  unsocial,  stiff,  and 
formal.  Early  in  his  reign  he  left  the  field  of  active 
life,  never  to  return.  He  was  a  man  of  the  closet,  a  man 
of  the  pen.  At  the  time  Henry  III.  was  assassinated, 
Philip  had  been  for  many  years  withdrawn  from  the  gaze 
of  men.  For  many  years  he  had  guided  events,  not  by 
his  presence,  but  by  his  underground  diplomacy,  his 
bribes,  his  agents,  his  spies,  his  innumerable  despatches. 

Not  far  from  Madrid  he  had  built  a  vast  palace,  in 
part  a  residence,  in  part  a  house  of  worship.  Here 
Philip  II.,  another  "universal  spider,"  lived  and  spun 
far-reaching  webs.  Seated  at  a  table  in  a  cheerless  inner 
room  of  this  convent-palace,  the  king,  a  pale,  slight  man, 
clothed  in  sombre  black,  had  been  drudging  like  a  dull 
methodical  clerk  for  all  these  years,  writing,  correcting, 
signing,  and  sealing  countless  despatches  whose  mission 
it  was  to  stir  up  devilment  in  all  quarters  of  the  earth. 

Narrow-minded,  bilious,  and  inflexible,  Philip  II.  had, 
at  the  very  beginning  of  his  reign,  conceived  the  idea 
of  becoming  the  Defender  of  the  Faith,  the  armed 
champion  of  endangered  Catholicism,  and  the  restorer 
of  her  supremacy.  With  this  purpose  in  view,  he  made 
and  broke  treaties,  committed  and  approved  crimes,  quar- 
relled with  personal  friends  and  plotted  with  personal 
enemies,  neglected  the  national  interests  of  Spain,  and 
beggared  the  inheritance  of  his  children. 

Philip  is  now,  in  the  good  year  1590,  at  the  summit  of 
his  power,  and  is  writing  away  at  his  desk,  while  couriers 
wait  in  the  courtyard  with  horses  ready  saddled  to  gallop 
off  with  despatches  which  shall  fly  to  France,  to  Italy,  to 
Germany,  to  Holland,  to  England,  —  despatches  which  shall 
cross  the  seas  and  command  obedience  in  far-away  Cuba, 


456  THE  STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Florida,  Mexico,  and  South  America.  The  web  stretches 
from  pole  to  pole  :  touch  it  anyAvhere  and  the  "  universal 
spider"  is  on  the  alert.  Does  a  handful  of  Huguenots 
insult  the  king  by  landing  in  Florida,  and  throwing  up 
earthworks  in  the  depths  of  a  trackless  forest  ? 

Philip  will  hear  of  it,  will  write  a  despatch ;  the 
courier's  departing  gallop  will  be  heard  in  the  courtyard, 
as  he  dashes  away ;  and  when  the  Huguenot  colony  is 
next  heard  from,  the  little  fort  will  be  in  ruins,  and  its 
defenders  asleep  in  unmarked  graves. 

Whereupon,  Philip,  a  pious  man  and  a  meek,  will 
fervently  thank  God,  and  resume  his  writing. 

Does  the  Jezebel  of  England,  the  heretical  Elizabeth, 
defy  the  Holy  Father,  and  persecute  good  Catholics  ? 
Does  she  interfere  with  Continental  politics,  succouring 
Huguenots  in  France  and  elsewhere  ? 

Philip  II.  will  scratch  away  at  his  desk  more  busily 
than  ever,  will  shower  despatches  right  and  left,  will 
hurry  couriers  as  fast  as  they  can  ride  :  the  tramp  of 
feet  will  be  heard  in  all  his  dominions  as  troops  gather 
to  the  standards  ;  the  saw  will  grate  and  the  hammer  ring 
in  all  the  dockyards  along  his  coasts  ;  and  after  a  while 
the  majestic  Armada  spreads  its  thousand  white  wings,  and 
bears  down  upon  the  coasts  of  England  —  carrying  the 
Spanish  avengers  who  are  to  visit  heaven's  wrath  upon 
the  English  and  their  queen. 

In  due  season  this  great  fleet  —  "  the  Invincible  Armada  " 
—  is  ingloriously  riddled  by  English  guns,  and  knocked 
to  pieces  by  Channel  storms,  and  its  huge  wreck  strews 
the  shores  of  many  lands.  Thereupon,  the  tidings  being 
carried  to  Philip,  he  thanks  God  for  what  is  left,  and 
calmly  resumes  his  writing. 


xxvn  HENRY   THE   FOURTH  457 

Ever  since  the  battle  of  St.  Quentin,  he  had  been  try- 
ing to  make  an  ally  of  France,  for  the  systematic  exter- 
mination of  heretics  ;  Spanish  historians  say  that  he  spent 
$100,000,000  in  support  of  the  Catholic  cause  in  France. 
His  interference  not  only  cost  France  a  far  greater  sum 
than  1100,000,000,  but  cost  her  also  the  lives  of  1,000,000 
men.  It  was  Philip  whose  eternal  despatches  and  bribes 
turned  every  peace  into  renewed  war.  It  was  his  money, 
his  indomitable  spirit,  his  aid  in  troops,  which  sustained 
the  Guises,  the  Valois  kings,  and  Catherine  de'  Medici. 

When  Henry  IV.  was  on  the  point  of  taking  Paris,  it 
was  Philip  who  foiled  him  by  ordering  up  the  Prince  of 
Parma  to  its  relief.  It  was  Philip  who  hung  on  to  Henry, 
with  dogged  determination,  until  Henry  left  the  fight, 
yielded  up  the  faith  in  which  he  was  reared,  bowed 
humbly  at  the  feet  of  a  priest,  begged  pardon,  swore 
fealty  to  the  Church  —  and  thus  won  peaceful  posses- 
sion of  the  throne.  Not  until  then,  did  Philip  cease 
to  make  war  upon  Henry. 

Spain's  ruin  can  be  traced  to  Philip's  reign ;  and  his- 
torians therefore  set  him  down  as  a  failure. 

I  do  not.  His  object  was  to  keep  the  French  crown 
Catholic,  and  he  did  it ;  to  check  heresy,  and  he  did  it. 

France  was  perhaps  about  to  become  Huguenot ;  Philip 
arrested  that  progress  and  reversed  it ;  in  the  succeeding 
reigns  France  was  more  Catholic  than  she  had  ever  been. 

Philip  annihilated  Lutheranism  in  Spain,  Portugal,  and 
Italy  ;  checked  it  in  Austria  and  Belgium,  and  barred  it 
out  from  Mexico,  South  America,  and  the  Spanish  Islands. 
Both  in  the  Old  World  and  the  New,  Philip  was  the 
armed  champion  of  the  Church,  and  to  him  she  largely 
owes  it  that  the  Reformation  was  so  incomplete. 


A.D. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII 

HENRY   THE   FOURTH    (continued) 


TN  1590,  Henry  IV.  laid  siege  to  Dreux.  The  Duke  of 
1590  Mayenne  came  up  with  16,000  troops.  The  king  had 
11,000.  The  famous  battle  of  Ivry  was  fought,  and 
Henry  won  it.  "  My  friends,"  cried  the  king,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  action,  "keep  your  ranks  in  good  order  : 
if  you  lose  your  ensigns,  cornets,  or  guides,  the  white 
plume  that  you  see  on  my  helmet  will  lead  you  on  the 
way  to  honour  and  glory." 

The  road  to  Paris  was  now  open  ;  the  army  of  the 
League  destroyed.  The  king  advanced  and  laid  siege 
to  the  city.  The  people  held  out  most  obstinately,  the 
priests  exerting  all  their  influence  to  increase  their  fury 
against  the  heretics.  Famine  soon  made  the  situation 
horrible  to  the  besieged.  Cannibalism  was  practised,  and 
Henry  IV.  was  so  touched  by  the  miseries  of  the  city 
that  he  allowed  some  provisions  to  run  the  blockade. 
His  victory  was  almost  within  his  grasp,  and  he  saw  near 
A.I>.  at  hand  the  end  of  all  his  toils.  But  the  man  of  the 
1590  Escurial  had  not  been  idle  :  he  had  been  writing,  and 
couriers  had  been  galloping.  The  Prince  of  Parma 
marched  up  from  the  Netherlands  with  his  Spanish 
veterans  —  he  the  first  soldier  of  the  age.  He  out-gen- 
eralled  the  king  completely,  threw  supplies  and  reenforce- 
ments  into  Paris,  and  withdrew  into  the  Netherlands 
again  without  the  loss  of  a  man. 

458 


CHAP,  xxvin  HENRY   THE   FOURTH  459 

This  was  very  discouraging  to  Henry.     Failing  in  an    A.D. 
attempt  to  take  Paris  by  stratagem,  he  retired,  and  in   1591 
1591  laid  siege  to  Rouen.     Parma  reentered  France  to 
save  the  city.     At  Aumale  a  battle  was  fought  between 
Henry  and   the  prince.      The   king   was   wounded,   and 
narrowly  missed  capture.     The  siege  was  raised.     Henry, 
however,  was  wonderfully  active,  and,  after  some  further 
fighting,  he  managed  to  get  Parma  hemmed  in  a  corner —    A.D. 
with  the  sea  on  one  side,  three  French  armies  on  another,    1692 
and  the  Seine  in  his  rear.     Battling  with  fever,  and  suf- 
fering from   a  wound   though   he   was,    Parma's    genius 
extricated  him  ;  in  one  night  he  bridged  the  Seine,  and  was 
gone  before  the  king  knew  his  purpose. 

Marshal  Biron,  one  of  the  king's  generals,  Avas  suspected 
of  having  favoured  Parma's  escape.  The  marshal's  son 
applied  to  him  for  two  thousand  horsemen,  offering  to  cut 
the  Spanish  rear-guard  to  pieces.  Biron  refused,  and  sub- 
sequently said  to  his  son,  "  Had  you  done  it,  the  war  had 
been  over  at  once,  and  you  and  I  would  have  had  nothing 
more  to  do  but  plant  cabbages  at  Biron." 

Whether  this  story  be  true  or  not,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  it  fairly  represents  the  feelings  of  many  partisan 
chiefs,  on  both  sides. 

Confusion  raged  at  Paris.  The  young  Duke  of  Guise, 
son  of  the  Balafre,  had  returned  thither  and  was  hailed  as 
their  chief  by  the  communistic  Committee  of  Sixteen, 
while  Mayenne  was  chief  of  the  aristocratic  faction,  which 
bitterly  opposed  the  measures  of  the  faction  of  the  Com- 
mittee. 

Urged  on  by  the  priests,  the  communistic  faction  seized 
upon  several  members  of  Parliament  and  put  them  to 
death. 


460  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Mayenne,  in  retaliation,  seized  upon  four  of  the  Sixteen, 
and  had  their  heads  chopped  off.  Thus  the  League  had 
broken  into  murderous  feuds,  and  the  conservative  citi- 
zens, of  all  parties,  began  to  draw  together  in  the  interests 
of  peace,  property,  and  personal  security. 

A.D.  The  Leaguers  convoked  a  States  General,  January  15, 
}  1593,  for  the  purpose  of  electing  a  king.  Philip  II.  had 
a  strong  party  in  France  which  favoured  the  claims  of  his 
daughter  Isabella,  upon  condition  that  she  should  wed  a 
French  noble.  The  Duke  of  Mayenne  had  been  heavily 
bribed  to  support  the  Spanish  princes,  but  his  attitude 
became  very  uncertain  and,  on  the  whole,  he  did  the  cause 
more  harm  than  good. 

There  was  a  powerful  sentiment  against  any  foreign 
candidate,  even  in  this  assembly  which  had  been  carefully 
packed  by  the  League. 

In  the  face  of  this  national  feeling,  the  traitors  who  had 
sold  the  crown  of  France  to  a  foreigner,  found  it  impossible 
to  carry  out  their  bargain. 

While  the  minds  of  the  people  were  in  agitation  over 
the  conflicting  claims  of  rival  parties,  the  Parliament 
of  Paris,  inspired  by  Edward  Mole  and  Jean  Lemaitre, 
proclaimed  the  Salic  Law  which  debarred  women  from  the 
throne.  This  was  a  serious  blow  to  the  Spanish  party, 
and  threw  them  into  deeper  confusion.  The  death- wound 
of  the  League,  it  is  said,  was  given  by  a  pamphlet  which 
appeared  at  this  time,  the  unknown  author  of  which  ex- 
posed and  denounced  the  designs  of  Philip  and  the  Pope, 
and  held  up  to  merciless  ridicule  the  greed,  egotism,  fol- 
lies, and  treacheries  of  the  leaders  of  the  League. 

The  current  of  public  opinion  began  to  run  strongly  in 
Henry's  favour,  and  even  in  the  States  General  of  the 


xxviii  HENRY  THE   FOURTH  461 

League,  there  was  a  large  party  which  declared  it  would 
support  him  if  he  would  become  a  Catholic. 

The  crafty  king,  to  whom  religion  was  merely  a  political 
fact  to  be  dealt  with  as  any  other  fact,  respectfully  invited 
the  Catholic  prelates  to  instruct  him  and  to  cure  him  of 
his  errors.  The  prelates  assented  and  for  six  hours 
laboured  with  the  Huguenot  king,  who  reverently  knelt 
at  their  feet.  When  the  lesson  was  over,  Henry  was 
extremely  tired  about  the  knees  but  refreshed  in  spirit, 
for  he  had  become  a  Catholic. 

Next  morning  at  eight,  the  new  convert,  clothed  in 
white  as  became  a  purified  heretic,  appeared  at  the  Cathe- 
dral of  St.  Denis.  There  was  a  great  crowd  present, 
drums  beat,  trumpets  blared,  and  simple  folks  strewed  the 
streets  with  flowers  and  bedewed  the  situation  with  tears. 

As  Henry,  for  whose   sake  so  many  Huguenots   had    A.D. 
fought,  suffered,  and  died,  entered  the  great  door  of  the    1593 
church,  the  archbishop  of   Bourges,  gorgeously  attired, 
and  attended  by  a  company  of  priests  radiant  in  purple 
and  gold,  said  to  the  king,  "Who  are  you  and  what  do 
you  want  ?  " 

"I  am  the  king,"  answered  Henry,  meekly.  "I  ask 
to  be  received  into  the  bosom  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church." 

"  Do  you  wish  it  sincerely  ?  "  asked  the  archbishop. 

"I  desire  it  with  all  my  heart,"  humbly  answered 
Henry. 

Falling  upon  his  knees,  the  king  protested  that  he  re- 
nounced all  heresy,  and  would  live  and  die  in  the  Catholic 
faith. 

He  was  then  led  to  the  altar,  amid  the  cheers  of  the 
dense  throng  of  people  present. 


462  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Reaching  the  altar  he  knelt  again  and  repeated  his 
recantation,  unctiously,  humbly,  earnestly. 

The  people  were  immensely  edified,  and  wept  copiously. 

After  the  comedy  was  ended  the  king  went  to  his  din- 
ner, amid  the  enthusiastic  rejoicings  of  those  very  Pari- 
sians who  had  hated  him  so  intensely  a  short  while  ago 
that  they  were  patiently  enduring  all  the  agonies  of  a 
siege  —  eating  dead  rats,  cats,  and  dogs,  and  even  their 
own  children  —  rather  than  open  their  gates  to  Henry  the 
Huguenot. 

In  public  Henry  had  acted  the  part  of  the  returning 
prodigal  with  consummate  art.  He  had  beat  his  breast 
with  his  hands,  fixed  his  gaze  adoringly  upon  the  Eucha- 
rist, put  sobs  in  his  voice,  and  penitential  sadness  into  his 
eyes. 

In  private  he  made  a  mockery  of  the  whole  business, 
and  declared  himself  heartily  sick  of  it. 

Two  days  before  he  was  "converted,"  he  wrote  to 
Gabrielle  d'Estrees,  his  mistress,  "  Sunday  is  to  be  the 
day  when  I  shall  make  the  somersault  that  brings  down 
the  house." 

Great  was  the  excitement  which  Henry's  apostasy  pro- 
duced throughout  France. 

The  extreme  Catholics  judged  the  transaction  with 
absolute  accuracy,  and  they  violently  denounced  the 
hypocrisy,  the  brazen  imposture  of  the  king's  conversion. 

The  extreme  Huguenots  had  far  better  reason  to  feel 
outraged.  They  had  made  Henry  their  hero,  had  trusted 
him,  shielded  him,  advanced  him,  pouring  out  blood  and 
treasure  without  stint  in  his  service,  and  now  it  had  all 
come  to  this  —  their  idolized  leader  had  thrown  them 
off,  "as  a  huntsman  his  pack,"  when  the  chase  is  done. 


xxvni  HENRY  THE  FOURTH  463 

But  while  this  natural  feeling  prevailed  at  both  ex- 
tremes of  the  line,  those  who  occupied  the  middle  ground 
rallied  to  the  king  immediately.  Moderate  Catholics  re- 
joiced exceedingly  that  they  had  won  their  king  —  a 
Frenchman,  brave,  and  strong,  and  good-hearted  ;  while 
moderate  Huguenots  were  satisfied  to  have  peace  and 
protection  even  though  they  lost  a  leader. 

Mayenne  adjourned  the  States  General  of  the  League, 
and  it  met  no  more. 

Although  Henry  had  been  received  back  into  the 
Church,  he  had  not  been  formally  crowned.  It  was 
highly  expedient  that  he  should  be. 

But  a  difficulty  presented  itself.  The  phial  containing 
the  holy  oil,  without  which  no  king  could  be  consecrated, 
was  at  Rheims,  and  Rheims  was  still  in  the  possession  of 
the  League. 

Most  fortunately,  however,  the  priests  discovered,  at 
this  critical  juncture,  that  there  was  another  phial  in 
France,  quite  as  sacred  as  that  of  Rheims,  which  was 
preserved  in  the  church  of  Marmoutier,  near  Tours. 
This  phial  of  Marmoutier  contained  what  was  left  of  the 
balsam  with  which  an  angel  had  cured  the  wounds  of 
St.  Martin  nearly  a  thousand  years  before. 

The  monks  of  Marmoutier  being  applied  to,  consented 
to  lend  the  phial  containing  the  miraculous  balsam  of 
St.  Martin,  for  Henry's  coronation,  and  under  strong 
military  escort,  the  said  balsam  was  carried  in  state  from 
Tours  to  Chartres  where  the  consecration  of  the  king 
was  to  take  place,  and  four  young  nobles  were  left  in 
pawn  to  the  monks  as  security  for  the  return  of  the 
precious  relic. 

All  Chartres  turned  out  to  greet  the  king  ;  the  streets 


464  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

A-D.  were  hung  with  tapestry,  and  resounded  with  the  happy 
1594  shouts  of  a  great  multitude. 

Again  Henry  performed  his  part  admirably.  Six  bish- 
ops, clad  in  resplendent  robes,  solemnly  assisted  in  the 
ceremony.  The  king  knelt,  repeated  his  lesson  once 
more,  took  the  customary  oath,  was  balsam ed  instead  of 
oiled,  and  rose  from  his  knees  much  stronger  in  his  title 
to  the  throne,  so  far  as  public  opinion  went. 

The  Pope  obstinately  hung  back  and  would  not  admit 
the  validity  of  Henry's  absolution,  nor  the  efficacy  of  the 
holy  balsam.  Neither  would  Philip  of  Spain  see  any 
merit  in  the  comedies  which  Henry  had  been  enacting. 

Therefore  the  war  continued.  Philip  supplied  men  and 
money  ;  the  Pope  supplied  spiritual  support  and  comfort. 

The  French  nation  was  rallying  to  its  king,  but  there 
was  arduous  work  yet  to  be  done,  before  the  crown  was 
to  rest  securely  upon  his  head. 

The  Duke  of  Mayenne  had  withdrawn  from  Paris  to 
receive  reinforcements  on  the  frontier  of  Champagne, 
leaving  the  Count  of  Brissac  in  command. 

Henry  had  failed  signally  in  his  attempts  to  take  the 
city  by  force  ;  he  now  tried  fraud,  and  succeeded. 

De  Brissac  sold  out  at  a  fancy  price  and  opened  the 
gates  to  Henry  on  the  night  of  March  22,  1594.  No 
resistance  was  offered  except  by  the  Spanish  guards,  who 
were  soon  cut  down. 

The  Spanish  garrison  left  next  day,  accompanied  by  all 
of  Philip's  emissaries.  As  they  filed  past  the  king  he 
laughingly  said,  "  Gentlemen,  present  my  compliments  to 
your  master,  but  come  here  no  more." 

War  still  continued  in  all  parts  of  the  kingdom,  but  the 
king  steadily  gained  ground.  Some  towns  he  took,  some 


xxvin  HENRY   THE   FOURTH  4Go 

he  purchased,  some  voluntarily  came  over  to  him.  One 
by  one  he  bought  off  the  opposing  nobles,  some  with 
offices,  some  with  money,  some  with  both.  Wonderfully 
winning  was  the  genial  king,  in  whose  heart  dwelt  neither 
deep  hatred  nor  true  love.  Even  the  Duchess  of  Mont- 
pensier,  sister  of  the  murdered  Guise,  became  his  partisan, 
and  welcomed  him  to  her  home. 

In  1595,  a  Jesuit  made  an  attempt  upon  the  king's  life,  A.L\ 
instigated,  it  was  thought,  by  Philip  II.  of  Spain.  Henry  169t> 
expelled  the  Jesuits,  and  declared  war  upon  Philip. 

In  the  skirmish  of  Fontaire-Franc.aise,  Henry,  with  only 
300  horse,  defeated  nearly  2000  of  Mayenne's  troops,  com- 
posed of  Spaniards,  French,  and  mongrel  mercenaries. 

Mayenne  soon  afterwards  gave  in  his  adhesion  to  Henry, 
the  Pope  having  formally  absolved  him.  The  Pope, 
Clement  VIII.,  had  been  very  slow  —  almost  too  much 
so.  He  had  repeatedly  rejected  Henry's  overtures  and 
repulsed  his  embassies.  The  French  king  wearied  of 
this  and  broke  off  negotiations.  As  it  became  clearer 
and  clearer  that  Henry  was  developing  into  a  successful 
and  popular  king,  the  Pope  began  to  be  desirous  of  avoid- 
ing the  schism,  which  his  obstinate  refusal  to  pardon  a 
penitent  king  might  cause.  Therefore  he  intimated  that 
Henry  would  have  better  luck  if  he  would  send  another 
embassy.  Henry  held  back  and  the  Pope  was  getting 
anxious,  but  at  length  the  embassy  arrived.  The  Pope 
demanded  that  Henry  should  surrender  his  crown  and 
receive  it  back  from  him.  To  this  demand  Henry  made 
absolute  refusal,  and  the  Pope  withdrew  it. 

On  a  vast  platform,  erected  in  front  of  the  church  of  A.D. 
St.  Peter,  the  Pope,  beneath  a  magnificent  canopy,  and  in  Io9u 
presence  of  an  immense  crowd  of  spectators,  smote  the 

2H 


466  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

shoulders  of  Henry's  representatives,  Duperron  and 
Dossat,  twice  with  his  crozier,  in  token  of  the  chastise- 
ment the  offended  Church  inflicted  upon  the  erring  but 
repentant  king.  This  comedy  being  ended,  Henry's 
pardon  was  ceremoniously  proclaimed. 

The  Huguenots  were  immeasurably  disgusted  with 
this  self-abasement  on  the  part  of  the  French  king,  and 
some  of  the  principal  leaders  of  that  party  withdrew  from 
the  army,  followed  by  a  large  body  of  private  soldiers. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  Spanish  war  resulted  in 

no   events   of  special    importance ;    Henry  gained    some 

advantages,  and  Philip  gained  some,  and  the  Treaty  of 

A.D.    Vervins  (1598)  put  an  end  to  the  struggle.      Philip  re- 

*   tained  Cambray,  and  surrendered  the  remainder  of  his 

conquests. 

Henry  was  now  very  definitely  and  indisputably  the 
king  of  France,  and  could  devote  himself  to  the  general 
welfare  of  his  kingdom. 

In  April,  1598,  the  Edict  of  Nantes  was  issued.  Under 
this  decree,  the  Huguenots  were  guaranteed  liberty  of 
conscience  and  freedom  of  worship  in  their  own  castles, 
and  in  those  towns  where  their  worship  had  already  been 
established  ;  or,  at  least,  in  one  town  in  each  bailliage. 
Schools  and  public  offices  were  to  be  thrown  open  to  them  ; 
mixed  tribunals,  half-Catholic,  half-Protestant,  were  to 
try  cases  in  which  Protestants  were  concerned  ;  the  right 
to  assemble  in  general  council  once  every  three  years  was 
conceded  ;  and  certain  towns  and  cities  were  left  in  their 
control  as  security  for  the  rights  granted  them. 

This  celebrated  edict  defines  the  true  status  of  the 
French  Huguenots,  —  that  of  a  grudgingly  tolerated  mi- 
nority. As  the  great  Protestant  nobles  went  over  to 


ixvin  HENRY  THE   FOURTH  467 

Henry,  nearly  all  of  them,  like  him,  left  their  religion 
behind.  The  nobles,  almost  to  a  man,  had  worn  the  cloak 
of  Protestantism  for  political  purposes,  as  Henry  himself 
had  done  ;  and  when  the  king  threw  the  cloak  aside,  the 
courtiers  imitated  his  example.  The  Reformed  faith  was 
no  longer  to  be  found  in  the  castles  ;  it  nestled  among  the 
cottages  and  the  huts.  It  no  longer  boasted  princes  of 
the  blood-royal,  Condes  and  Bourbons ;  it  no  longer 
counted  ampng  its  faithful,  De  Rohans,  Bouillons,  and  La 
Rochefaucaulds.  Even  Sully's  children  were  Catholics  — 
that  sober  Huguenot  having  been  made  a  duke.  From 
henceforth  Protestantism  in  France  was  confined  almost 
exclusively  to  the  middle  and  lower  classes. 

Court  favour  is  the  light  of  life  to  a  needy,  extrava- 
gant, and  ambitious  nobility  ;  court  favour  was  Catholic  ; 
the  nobles  became  Catholic  also. 

Henry  IV.  reduced  the  policy  of  bribery  to  a  science, 
and  had  unlimited  confidence  in  the  efficacy  of  ready  cash. 

Failing  to  get  Paris  by  the  sword,  or  by  apostatizing, 
he  had  bought  it,  giving  Brissac  200,000  crowns,  besides 
the  office  of  marshal,  and  the  government  of  Corbeil  and 
Mantes. 

Twice  had  Henry  tried  to  take  the  city  of  Rouen ; 
twice  had  he  failed.  He  decided  to  buy  it,  and  sent 
Sully,  his  confidential  minister,  to  bribe  the  governor  of 
the  city,  Villars. 

Sully  found  his  man  open  to  negotiations,  but  absurdly 
high  in  his  price.  Sully,  like  a  good  servant,  refused  to 
pay,  and  reported  to  the  king. 

"My  friend,"  wrote  Henry  to  Sully,  cheerfully,  "you 
are  an  ass.  Give  the  man  his  price.  We  will  afterwards 
pay  everything  with  the  very  things  they  surrender  to 


468  THE    STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

us,"  —  whereupon  Sully  closed  the  bargain,  and  Rouen 
was  given  up  to  Henry.  Villars  got  the  office  of  admiral, 
which  the  king  with  great  difficulty  bought  from  Biron 
for  120,000  crowns,  and  also  the  sum  of  3,447,800  livres 
for  himself  and  certain  friends  of  his  whom  he  felt  com- 
pelled to  take  care  of  in  the  bargain. 

To  the  Lord  of  Villeroi  was  paid  the  bribe  of  476,594 
livres.  Finally  the  Duke  of  Mayenne  himself  was  bought 
off  from  the  Spanish  alliance,  obtaining  for  himself  and 
certain  friends  a  sum  of  money  equal  to  nearly  $3,000,000 
of  our  currency. 

In  the  table  drawn  up  by  Sully,  it  appears  that  the 
various  bribes  paid  by  Henry  to  "  pacify "  his  Catholic 
foes  aggregated  the  sum  of  180,000,000  francs,  equal  to 
136,000,000. 

Much  of  this  money  was  borrowed  in  Venice  and  in 
Florence,  but  most  of  it  came  from  French  taxes.  Right 
royally  could  Henry  bribe,  knowing  that  the  money  would 
come  from  the  compatriots  of  the  men  bribed. 

As  soon  as  his  crown  was  securely  on  his  head,  Henry 
set  his  ministers  to  the  task  of  administrative  and  finan- 
cial reform. 

The  taxes  were  heavy,  and  the  men  who  bought  the 
privilege  of  collecting  them  greatly  abused  their  power. 
They  were  called  farmers-general,  because  they  farmed 
the  taxes  ;  that  is,  they  would  purchase  from  the  king 
for  a  certain  sum  the  revenues  of  a  certain  district, 
then  they  themselves  collected  the  revenues,  and  the 
king  concerned  himself  no  more  about  it.  The  natural 
consequence  was  that  the  king  got  much  less  than  the 
tax  should  have  yielded,  whereas,  the  people  were 
squeezed  into  paying  much  more  than  was  just  or  legal. 


ixvin  HENRY    THE   FOURTH  469 

Sully  overhauled  the  system,  discovered  huge  frauds, 
compelled  restitutions,  and,  while  lessening  the  burden  on 
the  people,  derived  a  larger  net  revenue  for  the  crown. 
He  thus  paid  off  147,000,000  livres  of  the  debt,  and  accu- 
mulated a  surplus  of  20,000,000  livres  in  the  royal  treas- 
ury, after  having  spent  40,000,000  livres  on  public  works, 
and  having  bought  back  80,000,000  livres'  worth  of  the 
royal  domains. 

Henry  and  his  ministers  encouraged  agriculture,  com- 
merce, and  manufactures.  Roads  were  opened  and  great 
canals  projected.  The  canal  of  Briare,  which  connects 
the  Loire  and  the  Seine,  was  commenced  and  completed. 
Henry  also  favoured  colonies,  and  sent  Champlain  to  Can- 
ada to  found  Port  Royal,  now  Annapolis,  and  Quebec. 

None  of  the  Bourbon  kings  approached  Henry  in  gen- 
eral popularity.  He  was  easy  of  approach,  affable,  good- 
natured,  kind-hearted,  gay,  and  fearless.  He  shared 
hardships  with  his  soldiers,  mixed  freely  with  the  people, 
and  had  a  thought  for  the  good  of  his  kingdom. 

He  was  not,  perhaps,  a  great  soldier.  Parma  made  a 
child  of  him,  and  he  only  won  where  dash  and  courage 
could  snatch  the  prize.  But  he  was  ever  sanguine,  ever 
active,  ever  ready  to  fight,  and  he  made  an  ideal  party- 
chief. 

He  gradually  broadened  into  a  statesman  as  his  career 
advanced.  It  was  a  cruel  ingratitude  to  throw  the  Prot- 
estants over,  but  it  was  wise  policy  in  the  king  of  France. 
A  much  stronger  man  than  he  also  felt  obliged  to  rein- 
state the  Catholic  religion,  after  the  Revolution  of  1789  ; 
and  the  fact  that  Napoleon  did  it  proves  its  policy,  for 
he  made  even  less  pretence  of  being  religious  than  did 
Henry  IV. 


470  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Profoundly  attentive  to  his  own  interest  was  Henry, 
always  —  changing  his  plans,  his  friends,  his  allies,  and 
his  religion,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  if  necessity  com- 
pelled. Born  and  reared  a  Protestant,  he  became  a  Cath- 
olic at  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  and  remained 
so  for  several  years  ;  then,  when  he  joined  the  Protestant 
forces,  became  Huguenot  again,  and  remained  so  for 
several  years  more ;  then  turned  his  coat  once  more, 
became  a  Catholic,  and  remained  one,  until  the  Jesuits, 
after  having  made  nineteen  attempts  upon  his  life,  suc- 
ceeded in  the  twentieth.  It  was  his  misfortune  bitterly  to 
enrage  the  extremists  of  both  religions,  and  the  Jesuits, 
representing  the  extreme  Catholics,  hunted  him  down. 

Henry  was  tricky  and  shifty  and  full  of  guile.  He 
was  false  to  his  wives,  and  false  also  to  his  mistresses. 
He  neither  exacted  loyalty  in  love,  nor  gave  it.  Nor  did 
he  have  either  gratitude  or  resentment.  He  forgave 
enemies  and  forgot  friends  with  all  the  easy,  good- 
natured  selfishness  of  Charles  II.  of  England. 

He  was  fond  of  that  kind  of  speaking  or  acting  which 
in  our  day  is  called  playing  to  the  grand  stand.  He  did 
it  with  great  effect.  His  saying  that  he  wanted  his 
soldiers  to  have  asylums  for  their  old  age,  and  each 
peasant  to  have  a  fowl  in  the  pot  every  Sunday,  endeared 
him  to  the  people  in  his  own  day,  and  has  kept  his  name 
in  grateful  remembrance  ever  since. 

In  spite  of  his  defects  —  and  they  were  many  and 
serious  —  there  was  a  manliness,  a  brilliancy,  a  magnet- 
ism, a  practical  sound-head edness  about  Henry  IV. 
which  compelled  admiration.  To  the  last  day  of  his 
life  he  was  ready  to  leap  his  horse,  flash  out  his  sword, 
and  cry  "  Follow  me  !  "  to  the  chivalry  of  France,  to 


xxvin  HENRY  THE   FOURTH  471 

dash  headlong  into  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  and  to  stay 
there  till  everybody  else  was  tired. 

He  loved  pretty  women,  and,  when  young  in  war, 
would  gallop  in  hot  haste  from  the  field,  leaving  his 
army  sadly  in  need  of  orders,  to  lay  the  captured  flags 
at  the  feet  of  his  lady-love. 

One  forgives  much  to  a  man  of  this  sort  —  a  real  flesh- 
and-blood  man  who  loves  and  fights,  and  who  combats 
faction,  bigotry,  rebellion,  conspiracy,  anarchy,  until  order 
comes  forth  from  chaos. 

Eight  hundred  thousand  people  had  been  slaughtered 
in  the  religious  wars,  nine  cities  levelled  to  the  ground, 
250  villages  burned,  128,000  houses  destroyed.  Work- 
men had  lost  work,  commerce  had  been  paralyzed,  agri- 
culture prostrated,  manufactures  crippled,  and  anarchy 
let  loose  everywhere. 

To  breathe  into  this  exhausted  France  the  inspiration 
of  a  new  life  was  Henry's  task  as  a  king,  and  he  did  it. 
His  ready  smile,  his  winning  courtesy,  his  conciliatory 
methods,  his  strong  hand,  his  sound  common  sense,  his 
shrewd  knowledge  of  human  nature  all  worked  together 
to  pacify,  compromise,  encourage,  and  control  the  dis- 
cordant elements  which  repeated  civil  wars  had  evoked. 
When  he  fell  under  the  knife  of  fanaticism,  his  work  had 
been  done,  and  well  done.  France  was  strong,  pros- 
perous, and  at  peace  with  herself. 

The  last  years  of  the  reign  were  beclouded  by  one  of 
those  scrapes  about  a  woman  into  which  Henry  was  per- 
petually running.  He  fell  violently  in  love  with  Char- 
lotte de  Montmorency,  and  induced  his  nephew  Conde  to 
marry  her,  believing  that  Conde  would  be  so  obliging  as 
to  overlook  the  king's  fondness  for  his  wife.  Conde, 


472  THE  STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

however,  determined  to  keep  his  wife  for  himself,  and 
there  being  no  security  for  him  or  her  at  court,  he  retired 
with  her  to  Brussels. 

Henry  IV.,  the  Great  Henry,  made  all  Europe  ring 
with  the  scandal  of  trying  to  compel  a  young  husband, 
a  prince  of  his  own  royal  blood,  to  bring  his  wife  back  to 
the  arms  of  the  king. 

Failing  in  all  overt  measures,  the  infatuated  Henry 
stooped  to  an  attempt  at  kidnapping  the  lady,  and  the 
plan  would  perhaps  have  succeeded  had  not  the  queen 
sent  warning  to  the  intended  victim. 

Herein  lay  the  weakness  of  Henry's  character,  that  he 
was  always  the  slave  of  some  woman. 

It  is  a  curious  picture  of  the  times  which  Sully  has 
drawn  in  his  Memoirs,  and  of  a  monarch,  great  to  the 
world  and  small  in  his  own  household. 

His  Italian  wife,  Marie  de'  Medici,  had  brought  with 
her  to  France,  her  foster-sister,  the  famous  Galigai,  and 
the  husband  of  this  woman,  Concini. 

This  couple  ruled  the  queen.  They  plaj^ed  upon  her 
jealousy,  her  spitefulness,  and  her  pride,  until  she  made 
the  king's  life  a  torment  to  him.  Henry  attributed  all 
this  domestic  bickering  to  the  Concini,  and  endured  it 
until  Sully  himself  marvelled  at  his  forbearance.  To 
his  faithful  minister  he  unbosomed  himself  freely,  and 
declared  that  he  believed  a  plot  was  on  foot  to  kill 
him. 

"  In  Heaven's  name,  Sire,"  exclaimed  Sully,  "  if  that 
be  so,  why  do  you  not  drive  these  people  away  ?  " 

Nothing  was  done,  however,  and  the  plot  ripened. 
A.r>.        The  king  had  made  extensive  preparations  for  a  war 
against  Spain  and  Austria  ;    the  troops  were  already  in 


XXTIII  HENRY  THE  FOURTH  473 

motion  ;  but  the  king  delayed  his  departure  from  Paris 
to  please  his  wife,  who  wished  to  be  formally  crowned 
before  Henry  set  out  for  the  army. 

That  the  king  was  depressed  by  the  gloomiest  forebod- 
ings in  connection  with  this  coronation  is  certain.  Sully 
in  his  Memoirs,  tells  that  time  and  again  the  king  declared 
his  uneasiness  —  his  presentiment  of  approaching  death. 

Sully  protested  that  if  the  king  felt  in  this  way  the 
coronation  could  easily  be  postponed,  but  Henry  would 
not  consent.  The  minister  was  so  deeply  impressed  with 
the  king's  forebodings  that  he  took  the  responsibility  of 
ordering  the  preparations  stopped,  but  the  queen  pleaded 
with  Henry  and  they  were  resumed. 

"  Ah,  my  friend,"  said  the  king,  who  soon  repented  of 
yielding,  "  I  shall  never  go  out  of  this  city :  they  will 
murder  me  here." 

What  was  the  dark  mystery  back  of  all  this  ?  No  one 
can  tell.  Sully  felt  obliged  to  suppress  what  he  knew, 
and  the  record  of  Ravaillac's  trial  was  destroyed. 

Henry  had  bitter  enemies,  personal  and  political,  foreign 
and  domestic.  His  wife  surely  did  not  love  him,  and  the 
Concini  deeply  hated  him.  More  than  one  cast-off  mis- 
tress, cruelly  wronged,  was  close  at  hand,  willing  to  strike, 
and  supported  by  powerful  kinsmen.  Extreme  Catholics 
hated  him  for  the  toleration  and  favours  shown  to  Hugue- 
nots ;  extreme  Huguenots  hated  him  for  the  favours  and 
toleration  granted  to  Catholics,  and  doubly  damned  him 
for  his  apostasy.  Above  all,  he  was  about  to  hurl  armies 
of  invasion  against  Catholic  powers.  Rumours  were 
flying  abroad  that  he  even  meant  to  assail  the  Pope. 
Thus  we  can  see  that  from  several  different  quarters 
danger  might  arise  to  Henry's  life. 


474  THE   STORY  OF   FRANCE  CHAP.  XXVIH 

*•*>•  On  May  13,  1610,  the  queen's  coronation  took  place. 
During  all  the  day  the  king  was  restless  and  sad.  On  the 
next  day  his  gloom  increased.  About  four  o'clock  in  the 
evening  the  captain  of  his  guard  said  to  him,  "  Sire,  your 
majesty  is  very  pensive  ;  a  short  airing  will  cheer  your 
spirits." 

"  You  say  well,"  answered  Henry  ;  "  call  my  coach  and 
I  will  go  to  the  arsenal  to  see  Sully." 

Issuing  from  the  palace,  attended  by  a  few  friends,  the 
king  entered  his  coach.  The  weather  being  fine,  the 
carriage  was  open  on  all  sides.  A  hay-cart  and  a  dray- 
load  of  wine  blocked  the  street,  and  the  carriage  stopped. 
At  this  moment  FranQois  Ravaillac,  who  had  been  following 
the  king,  mounted  on  the  wheel  and  struck  him  with  a 
knife.  Henry  cried  out,  "  I  am  wounded  !  "  The  assas- 
sin thrust  again,  the  knife  reached  the  heart,  and,  heaving 
a  deep  sigh,  the  king  died  instantly. 

Ravaillac  made  no  effort  to  escape  and  was  put  to  death 
with  horrible  tortures,  — firm  to  the  last  in  declaring  that 
he  had  no  accomplices,  and  had  killed  the  king  because  he 
had  not  brought  the  Huguenots  back  to  the  bosom  of  the 
Church,  and  because  it  was  said  that  he  was  about  to  make 
war  on  the  Pope. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS 

TTISTORIANS  tell  us  that  the  middle  and  lower  classes 
prospered  during  the  two  centuries  of  which  we  have 
been  writing. 

The  absolute  power  which  the  kings  had  grasped,  gave 
unity  and  strength  to  the  government,  and  security  to  the 
people.  Commerce  flourished  in  spite  of  robber  lords, 
for  the  towns  organized  against  the  castles,  and  while 
the  knights  clung  tenaciously  to  their  time-honoured 
privilege  of  despoiling  the  merchant  traveller,  they 
gradually  had  to  get  used  to  seeing  the  good  old  custom 
pass  away.  Manufactures  sprang  up  and  mines  were 
developed ;  traders  became  richer  than  nobles ;  fine 
houses  adorned  every  town  and  city,  and  no  more 
magnificent  churches  have  ever  been  built  in  Europe 
than  those  which  were  erected  in  the  fifteenth  and  six- 
teenth centuries. 

It  may  be  doubted  whether,  even  in  this  day  of  million- 
aires and  fabulous  expenditures,  any  monarch,  or  noble,  or 
head  of  a  corporation  could  succeed  in  building  a  palace, 
at  once  so  beautiful  and  so  durable  as  those  which  were 
constructed  in  France  and  other  European  countries  during 
the  time  of  Francis  I.  and  his  successors. 

475 


476  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

The  economic  or  industrial  world  was  highly  organ- 
ized. The  individual  amounted  to  nothing  ;  the  organi- 
zation was  everything.  There  was  a  corporation  or 
guild  for  every  trade  and  calling  ;  even  the  beggars  were 
thoroughly  organized  in  the  Beggars'  Guild. 

The  guild  was  not  like  a  modern  syndicate  or  corpora- 
tion, whose  members  may  not  even  know  each  other, 
and  who  may  be,  except  in  the  business  in  hand,  totally 
disconnected.  In  the  mediaeval  guild,  the  idea  of  family, 
of  kinship,  and  of  a  mutual  interest,  permeated  the  whole 
life  of  each  member,  religiously,  socially,  and  politically. 

The  guild  was  a  cooperative  brotherhood.  Every 
member  had  his  share  in  the  common  property  of  the 
organization,  was  under  obligation  to  labour,  and  to  obey 
the  rules  of  the  guild,  and  had  an  equal  right  to  enjoy  all 
the  advantages  pertaining  to  the  particular  trade  which 
his  guild  covered.  No  contractor  was  allowed.  All  had 
to  work.  There  were  guild  masters,  but  these  had  to 
work  also,  and  if  a  guild  master  was  taken  sick,  the 
council  of  the  order  decided  who  should  carry  on  his 
business. 

The  guild  bought  the  raw  material,  and  distributed  it 
among  the  members  in  relatively  equal  proportions. 

Every  master  had  equal  right  to  the  use  of  the  common 
property.  In  some  industries,  woollen  manufactures, 
for  instance,  the  guild  owned  all  the  essentials  of  pro- 
duction, — wool  kitchens,  carding  rooms,  bleaching  houses, 
etc.,  —  and  these  were  common  to  the  whole  guild. 

The  guild  was  thoroughly  patriarchal  in  its  character. 
The  education  of  the  journeyman  in  handicraft,  as  well  as 
the  supervision  of  his  morals,  was  carefully  attended  to, 
and  sick  or  disabled  apprentices  and  journeymen  were 


xxix  GENERAL  SURVEY  477 

maintained.  On  coming  into  a  strange  town,  a  travelling 
member  of  a  guild  was  certain  of  a  friendly  reception  at 
the  hands  of  resident  members  of  that  guild,  and  of  the 
means  of  subsistence  until  he  could  get  work. 

Good  work  and  honest  dealings  were  exacted  by  each 
guild  of  its  members,  and  their  laws  against  adulteration 
and  the  like  were  almost  savage  in  their  severity. 

In  the  year  1456  two  grocers  were  burnt  at  Nuremberg 
for  adulterating  saffron  and  spices.  A  similar  instance 
occurred  at  Augsburg  in  1492.  In  some  towns  bakers 
who  did  not  properly  make  their  bread  were  shut  up  in  a 
basket  fixed  to  the  end  of  a  pole,  and  soused  to  the  bot- 
tom of  a  pool  of  dirty  water,  as  many  times  as  were 
thought  necessary  to  reform  and  make  better  tradesmen 
of  them. 

Thus  each  guild  was  a  large  industrial  family,  bound 
together  by  mutual  interest,  and  dividing  among  its 
members,  according  to  certain  rules  of  proportion,  the 
joint  product  of  their  labour. 

As  to  the  outside  world,  the  guild  was  a  monopoly. 
It  controlled  production  and  fixed  prices,  sternly  limiting 
the  number  of  workmen  as  well  as  the  amount  produced 
by  them.  Admission  to  a  guild  became  difficult ;  and  as 
it  grew  in  wealth  and  power  upon  its  monopoly  great 
complaints  were  heard  from  the  people  who  had  to  pay 
the  exorbitant  prices. 

Wages,  judged  by  what  the  money  would  buy,  were 
good  in  the  fifteenth  century. 

In  South  Germany  the  average  price  of  beef  was  about 
half  a  cent  per  pound,  while  the  daily  wages  of  carpenters 
and  masons,  in  addition  to  their  keep,  amounted  to  about 
eight  cents  per  day.  In  Saxony  the  same  workmen 


478  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

earned,  besides  their  keep,  nine  cents  per  day.  In  addi- 
tion to  this  the  workman  was  given  a  certain  sum  each 
week  to  pay  for  the  expense  of  washing  himself.  This 
wholesome  gratuity  was  known  as  bathing  money.  In 
every  town  there  were  the  needful  arrangements  for 
bathing,  both  in  winter  and  summer ;  and  it  was  a  cus- 
tomary thing  with  the  guilds  to  demand  for  their  work- 
men a  holiday  once  in  a  fortnight,  and  sometimes  oftener, 
for  the  purpose  of  bathing. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  a  day-labourer 
could  earn,  besides  his  keep,  twenty-two  cents.  A  pair  of 
shoes  cost  him  seven  cents  ;  a  sheep  ten  cents  ;  a  fat  hen 
about  one  and  a  half  cents ;  twenty-five  codfish  ten  cents ; 
a  wagon-load  of  firewood,  delivered,  twelve  cents  ;  an  ell 
of  the  best  homespun  cloth  twelve  cents  ;  a  bushel  of  rye 
about  fifteen  cents. 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  necessaries  of  life  were 
marvellously  cheap  ;  and  we  are  assured  by  the  best 
authorities  that  the  labouring  people  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury and  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  enjoyed  very 
general  comfort.  Of  course  human  nature  is  the  same 
everywhere,  and  in  the  guilds,  as  elsewhere,  a  few  master 
workmen  got  the  lion's  share  of  the  earnings  of  the 
brotherhood. 

As  the  sixteenth  century  wore  on,  however,  there  was 
a  fourfold  rise  in  the  prices  of  produce,  without  a  corre- 
sponding rise  in  the  wages  of  labour. 

Outside  the  narrow,  tyrannical,  and  unprogressive 
guilds  great  mercantile  enterprises  were  being  pushed 
by  individual  merchants  or  by  trading  companies.  Vasco 
da  Gama's  discovery  of  the  new  route  to  the  Indies  by 
way  of  Cape  Horn  opened  up  the  markets  of  the  world 


xxix  GENERAL  SURVEY  479 

as  they  had  not  been  opened  before,  and  Europe  felt  the 
consequences.  Barter  ceased  to  play  so  important  a  part 
in  exchanges.  Money  became  more  and  more  the  one 
prime  necessity.  Without  money  the  noble  could  not 
obtain  the  imported  luxuries  which  he  so  much  coveted. 
Without  money  the  rich  burgher  could  not  get  the  silks 
and  tapestries,  the  spices  and  jewels  with  which  to  make 
a  gaudier  display  than  the  noble  could  afford.  Trade 
no  longer  being  confined  to  home  folk  and  to  home  prod- 
ucts, barter  was  impossible.  Cash  was  indispensable. 
Thus  the  demand  for  ready  money  was  immensely  in- 
creased by  this  foreign  commerce,  while  the  supply  of 
money  remained  the  same. 

The  natural  and  inevitable  consequence  was  a  rise  in 
the  price  of  money,  answering  to  the  increased  demand. 
That  is  to  say,  it  required  more  labour,  and  more  produce, 
to  buy  money  ;  and  the  money,  after  having  been  bought 
with  a  greater  quantity  of  produce,  did  not  pay  any 
greater  amount  of  debts,  or  of  public  dues,  than  it  had 
formerly  done  when  it  was  cheaper. 

The  result  was  misery  among  those  who,  not  having 
the  cash,  were  obliged  to  take  their  labour  or  their  produce 
into  the  market  and  exchange  them  for  money. 

This  pressure  for  money  fell  upon  kings,  princes,  and 
prelates,  as  well  as  upon  the  lowly.  To  get  the  funds 
which  they  needed,  the  dignitaries  of  both  Church  and 
State  bore  down  upon  the  peasant  with  unmerciful  sever- 
ity. Public  burdens  were  increased,  new  ones  invented, 
and  free  men  forced  into  servitude  by  forgery  of  manorial 
rolls.  If  it  came  to  the  ears  of  a  lord  that  a  certain 
peasant  had  money,  that  peasant  was  certain  to  have 
trouble.  If  he  neglected  his  lord's  invitation  to  disgorge, 


480  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

the  rats  of  the  castle  dungeon  would  probably  make  an 
early  feast  upon  the  obstinate  serf. 

The  ecclesiastical  lords  were  rather  worse  than  those 
temporal.  They  were  more  skilful  at  forging  manorial 
documents,  which  would  prove  that  a  certain  peasant  who 
had  supposed  himself  to  be  a  free  man,  and  had  acted  all 
his  life  upon  that  assumption,  was  in  fact  a  serf,  bound  to 
render  up  whatever  his  lord  might  demand. 

Besides  such  frauds  as  these,  the  Church  compelled  the 
payment  of  enormous  sums  on  every  change  of  archbishop, 
bishop,  or  abbot ;  and  this  sum  had  to  be  raised  by  the 
citizens  of  the  diocese. 

In  addition  to  this,  the  entire  revenues  of  the  district 
for  one  year  had  to  be  paid  into  the  papal  treasury  after 
each  change  in  the  ecclesiastical  offices  named.  Again, 
there  were  the  sale  of  indulgences  and  the  manufacture  of 
relics.  These  pious  and  inexpensive  branches  of  industry 
were  earnestly  developed,  and  the  faithful  were  expected 
to  be  liberal  in  their  patronage. 

Some  of  the  priests  themselves,  not  being  wholly  devoid 
of  the  sense  of  humour,  mocked  the  ceremonial  deception 
which  imposed  upon  the  superstitious,  and  they  invented 
the  Festival  of  Fools,  and  the  Festival  of  Asses,  as  a 
travesty  upon  the  sacred  mysteries,  and  a  satire  upon 
those  who  were  duped. 

Luther,  who  had  been  a  priest,  relates  that  at  the  cele- 
bration of  the  mass,  where  the  faithful  congregation 
believes  that  the  wine  becomes  the  actual  blood  of  Christ, 
and  the  bread  his  actual  body,  the  officiating  priests, 
whose  duty  it  was  to  mutter,  "Bread  thou  art  and  flesh 
thou  shalt  become,"  would  slyly  mutter  the  more  truthful 
statement,  "  Bread  thou  art  and  bread  thou  shalt  remain.'" 


xxix  GENERAL  SURVEY  481 

The  earth  is  full  of  the  decaying  bones  of  those  stub- 
born men  and  women  who  were  slain  by  the  Church 
because  they  could  not  believe  in  transubstantiation : 
who  could  not  believe  that  the  word  of  a  priest  could 
turn  wine  into  Christ's  blood,  and  bread  into  His 
flesh. 

It  was  a  common  thing  for  priests  to  keep  gambling 
and  ale  houses.  One  of  the  princes  of  the  German 
empire  addressed  the  friar  of  a  convent,  largely  patron- 
ized by  aristocratic  ladies,  as  "  Thou,  our  common  brother- 
in-law  ! "  In  some  of  the  convents  the  bastards  of  the 
nuns,  begotten  by  the  monks,  were  reared  as  monks  and 
nuns. 

All  over  the  world  men  were  still  busy  trying  to  dis- 
cover the  Elixir  of  Life,  the  means  by  which  base  metals 
could  be  turned  into  gold,  and  the  Philosopher's  Stone 
which  was  to  put  the  forces  of  nature  at  the  service  of 
the  fortunate  possessor. 

Science  was  strangely  fettered  by  superstition,  and  to 
be  unusually  skilled  in  chemistry,  the  practice  of  medicine, 
and  the  like,  was  perilous.  The  charge  of  witchcraft  was 
a  deadly  weapon,  ever  ready  to  the  hand  of  malice  ;  and 
the  proofs  which  established  the  discovery  of  a  new  rem- 
edy, or  a  new  scientific  fact,  might  be  quite  sufficient  to 
convince  an  ignorant  tribunal  that  the  discoverer  was  in 
league  with  the  devil.  In  that  event,  the  unlucky  stu- 
dent who  had  dared  to  know  more  than  his  neighbours  was 
burnt  at  the  stake,  and  thus  became  a  warning  to  others 
who  might  presume  to  improve  on  the  methods  of  their 
fathers. 

The  physicians  shed  more  blood  than  professional  sol- 
diers, a  practice  which  continued  almost  to  our  own  day. 

2  i 


482  THE    STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

For  every  disease,  they  bled  the  patient.  If  he  were  apo- 
plectic, they  bled  him  ;  if  he  had  chills,  they  bled  him ;  if 
he  had  fever,  the  cure  was  the  same ;  if  he  were  wounded 
in  battle  and  had  lost  nearly  all  his  blood,  the  first  thing 
the  surgeon  did  was  to  cut  another  hole  in  him  and  let 
out  still  more. 

Wounds  were  cauterized  with  red-hot  iron  bars ;  and 
great  faith  was  put  in  placing  upon  the  patient's  chest  the 
newly  flayed  body  of  some  animal. 

In  special  cases  the  bone-dust  of  dead  saints  was 
mixed  with  the  medicine,  and  the  potion  administered 
with  every  formality  which  could  inspire  faith  in  the 
patient.  If  the  man  died  it  was  for  want  of  faith,  and 
therefore  the  conscience  of  the  doctor  was  clear. 

Impostures  of  every  sort  prevailed.  The  people  knew 
so  little,  and  thought  so  little,  that  they  could  be  deceived 
in  every  conceivable  way. 

The  rustic  mind  was  pliant  wax,  and  dishonest  priests 
could  write  upon  it  whatsoever  fiction  they  wished.  The 
people  were  told  of  miracles  here  and  miracles  there, 
and  faith  gaped,  her  mouth  wide  open,  and  gulped  down 
the  fraud.  Statues  sweated  or  wept,  the  Virgin  appeared 
and  conversed  in  Latin,  angels  quit  their  celestial  harp- 
ing to  show  the  monks  where  the  bones  of  a  certain  saint 
for  which  there  was  a  market  demand  could  be  found ; 
and  the  business  of  "  casting  out  of  devils  "  was  carried 
on  with  regularity  and  success. 

At  the  church  of  St.  Mark,  at  Venice,  the  faithful 
could  find  such  relics  as  the  chair  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 
made  of  stone  ;  a  picture  of  her,  painted  by  St.  Luke  ;  two 
marble  slabs  spotted  with  the  blood  of  John  the  Baptist ; 
a  piece  of  the  true  cross,  and  of  the  pillar  to  which  Christ 


xxix  GENERAL  SURVEY  483 

was  tied  ;  the  rock  which  Moses  struck  ;  and  the  body  of 
St.  Mark  himself. 

And  the  people  believed  it  all. 

At  Cologne,  they  had  at  the  Cathedral  the  bones  of 
the  three  kings  who  brought  gifts  to  our  Lord ;  like- 
wise, the  bones  of  eleven  thousand  alleged  virgins  whom 
the  Moors  were  said  to  have  slain.  At  the  church  of  the 
Maccabees,  in  Cologne,  they  had  the  identical  pot  in 
which  the  Maccabees  and  their  mother,  Solomona,  were 
boiled  by  the  wicked  king,  for  refusing  to  eat  unclean  food. 

Of  course,  they  also  had  at  Cologne  a  piece  of  wood 
of  the  true  cross,  and  one  of  the  nails. 

At  Rome,  there  was  exhibited  to  the  faithful  a  true 
impression  of  our  Saviour's  face,  taken  at  the  Crucifix- 
ion. This  picture  was  only  shown  at  rare  intervals, 
and  when  the  devout  multitude  caught  a  glimpse  of  it, 
they  would  fall  down  on  their  faces  crying  aloud  in 
their  pious  fervour.  The  heads  of  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul,  made  of  wax  (unknown  to  the  people),  were 
also  exhibited.  These  heads  were  placed  on  a  high 
shelf  where  the  light  was  dim,  and  a  curtain  was  hung 
in  front.  The  curtain  being  raised,  the  faithful  would 
throw  themselves  on  the  floor,  and  weep  and  shout  in 
their  excitement  and  ecstatic  religious  fervour. 

Of  course,  there  was  also  at  Rome  a  piece  of  the 
true  cross,  and  one  of  the  nails.  No  important  church 
in  those  days  lacked  such  relics. 

Nearly  everybody  had  some  special  saint  from  whom 
protection  was  expected  and  to  whom  prayers  and  votive 
offerings  were  made.  The  sick  man  being  grievously 
afraid  of  death  would  vow  to  give  his  patron  saint  his 
weight  in  bread  and  cheese  if  he  would  restore  him 


484  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

to  health.  If  health  returned,  the  cure  went  to  the 
credit  of  the  saint,  and  the  bread  and  cheese  were  handed 
over  to  the  Church. 

Warriors  going  into  battle  would  make  similar  mental 
bargains  with  this  or  that  saint,  and  if  the  battle  left 
the  warrior  alive,  he  would  settle  the  debt  with  the 
Church  as  a  matter  of  course. 

Private  houses  were  warmed  by  braziers  or  stoves, 
or  open  chimneys  ;  but  the  brazier,  burning  coal,  was 
most  unsatisfactory  ;  the  huge  clay  stove  was  confined 
to  one  room  ;  and  the  open  fireplace  was  so  clumsily 
built  that  one  side  of  the  body  roasted  while  the  other 
froze.  One  fireplace  to  each  house  was  the  ordinary  rule 
for  common  people. 

At  hotels  the  innkeeper  decided  which  men  should 
sleep  together ;  and  all  the  guests  ate  at  a  common 
table,  at  the  same  hour. 

At  inns  of  the  better  class,  the  traveller  was  shown 
the  sheets  he  was  to  sleep  on,  and  they  were  warmed 
for  him,  if  the  weather  were  cold. 

For  amusement,  the  people  had  marriage  festivals, 
rural  games,  shooting-matches  with  crossbows,  fairs  in 
the  cities,  the  free  entertainment  of  princes,  and  the 
performance  of  Mysteries. 

These  latter  were  sacred  plays  in  which  nothing 
would  seem  to  us  sacred,  for  the  virtues  and  the  vices, 
God  and  the  Devil,  were  all  personified  and  spoke  sad 
trash  to  the  wondering  audience. 

In  each  city  there  were  schools,  and  in  the  cities 
where  the  guilds  were  organized  these  schools  were 
practically  free  to  all,  but,  as  a  rule,  education  was  com- 
pletely under  the  control  of  the  Church. 


xxix  GENERAL   SURVEY  485 

Dress  distinguished  the  rank  of  the  wearer  then  to  a 
much  greater  degree  than  now.  Peasants  wore  cloth 
hats,  laced  shoes  or  wooden  clogs,  brown  cloaks  and 
leather  jackets  ;  the  lawyer  wore  his  robes  ;  priests  had 
their  cassocks  ;  the  knights  were  cased  in  armour  ;  while 
princes  wore  silk,  velvet,  and  cloth  of  gold. 

Gunpowder  was  beginning  to  lift  a  loud  voice  in  behalf 
of  democracy.  It  was  found  that  no  mail-clad  rider, 
cased  ever  so  cunningly  in  panoply  of  steel,  could  stand 
before  peasant  foot-soldiers  armed  with  muskets.  The 
immediate  consequence  was  that  aristocratic  knights  on 
horses,  armed  with  swords  and  lances,  became  much  less 
important  in  war  than  the  man  in  the  ranks  who  relied 
on  gunpowder.  Becoming  less  important  in  war,  the 
aristocrats  gradually  lost  their  monopoly  of  power  in 
the  State.  In  other  words,  gunpowder  was  a  leveller. 
It  put  the  poor  man  and  the  physically  weak  man  on 
more  of  an  equality  with  the  rich  and  the  physically 
strong. 

The  firearms  of  that  period  were  very  cumbersome  and 
crude.  Not  only  was  the  musket  large  and  heavy,  but  it 
had  no  tube  and  percussion-cap  ;  it  did  not  even  have  a 
flint  and  steel.  It  had  the  "  pan  "  at  the  touch-hole 
where  the  loose  powder  was  poured,  but  in  order  to  fire  it 
off  the  soldier  had  to  light  a  match,  the  match  being 
almost  as  slow  and  cumbersome  in  its  operations  as  was 
the  musket. 

In  the  Tower  of  London  is  preserved  a  mediaeval  mus- 
ket, contrived  to  load  at  the  breech,  but  the  mechanical 
skill  of  that  day  was  not  sufficient  to  work  out  to  a  prac- 
tical success  the  idea  of  the  nameless  genius  who  thus 
anticipated  the  needle-guns  of  our  own  time. 


488  THE  STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP,  xxix 

Gunpowder  was  a  good  democrat  in  another  respect. 
It  demonstrated  to  the  high  and  mighty  feudal  chief,  who 
dwelt  in  a  fortified  castle,  and  exercised  as  a  prerogative 
of  the  knightly  order  the  right  to  plunder  the  traveller, 
that  no  walls  he  could  build  would  resist  cannon-balls. 
When  the  chief  became  convinced  of  this  fact,  he  aban- 
doned the  building  of  fortresses  on  high  hills  and  came  to 
town,  built  him  a  palace,  mixed  with  the  common  herd, 
and  looked  to  court  intrigue  to  obtain  the  money  of 
other  people,  —  which  he  had  been  used  to  take  by  force. 
The  essence  of  the  crime  and  its  consequences  were  not 
much  altered  ;  the  form  of  it,  however,  was  more  pol- 
ished, decorous,  and  satisfactory  to  all  concerned. 

Books  in  the  fifteenth  century  there  were  almost  none. 
The  kings,  the  Pope,  and  the  wealthy  monasteries  had  a 
few  manuscript  copies  of  the  Scriptures,  "  Lives  of  the 
Saints,"  Plutarch,  Virgil,  and  other  old  masters  ;  but  the 
collection  of  the  mightiest  monarch  was  scanty  compared 
to  that  of  the  poorest  scholar  of  our  times.  And,  neces- 
sarily, it  was  not  the  people  at  large  who  had  access  to 
these  manuscripts.  Only  the  favoured  few  ever  saw  them 
or,  perhaps,  cared  to  see  them.  Among  the  common 
people,  among  the  dumb  millions  who  fed  and  clothed 
and  housed  and  fought  for  their  lay  and  clerical  masters, 
there  were  absolutely  no  such  things  as  books. 

The  immense  difference  between  our  own  times  and 
those  we  have  been  considering,  was  brought  about  by 
the  Printing-press  —  as  remorseless  a  leveller  as  gun- 
powder itself,  and  more  irresistible. 


CHAPTER    XXX 

LOUIS   THE  THIRTEENTH  AND   RICHELIEU 

eldest  son  of  the  murdered  Henry  IV.,  was  nine 
years  old  when  he  became  king  under  the  name  of 
Louis  XIII. 

His  mother  Maria  de'  Medici,  "the  fat  bankeress  of 
Florence,"  as  Henry's  mistress,  the  beautiful  and  injured 
Gabrielle,  had  contemptuously  called  her,  became  regent. 

At  first,  Henry's  ministers  were  retained  in  office  and 
his  wise  policies  pursued,  but  in  a  short  time  a  secret 
cabal  in  the  palace  came  into  control,  and  all  was  changed. 

An  Italian  adventurer,  Concino  Concini,  whose  wife, 
a  person  of  low  degree  and  high  aims,  was  foster-sister  to 
the  regent,  secured,  in  collusion  with  a  Jesuit,  Father 
Cottin,  absolute  control  of  the  administration. 

Sully  found  that  secret  influences  counteracted  his  plans,    A.D. 
and  he  resigned  in  disgust.     With  him  went  the  strength   ] 
of  the  government. 

Direction  of  affairs  having  fallen  into  weak  hands,  each 
grandee  began  to  augment  his  pride,  importance,  and  ex- 
pectations. 

"The  day  of  the  kings  has  passed,"  said  they;  "this  is 
the  day  of  the  lords." 

Many  of  them  shut  themselves  up  in  the  walled  cities 
in  their  own  domains,  and  aspired  to  independence. 

Soon  there  was  a  clash  between  the  royal  will  and  theirs, 

487 


488  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

and  the  nobles,  under  the  lead  of  Conde,  revolted.  They 
published  a  manifesto  in  which  they  declared  that  the 
court  had  lowered  the  nobility,  ruined  the  finances,  and 
oppressed  "the  poor  people." 

The  poor  people  made  a  shrewd  guess  (for  once) 
that  the  nobles  cared  little  about  their  woes,  and  they  let 
the  nobles  and  the  court  fight  it  out.  The  result  was 
that  no  fighting  was  done.  Maria,  copjdng  the  weakest 
part  of  the  great  Henry's  policy,  bought  off  the  opposi- 
tion. Conde  received  450,000  livres,  the  Duke  of  May- 
enne  300,000,  De  Longueville  100,000,  and  so  on.  The 
poor  people  got  nothing  —  except  the  luxury  of  being 
taxed  to  pay  the  bribes  which  the  nobles  had  accepted. 

The  States  General  was  conv  -ne-1  October  14,  1614. 
It  was  their  last  meeting  until  1789. 

Among  the  deputies  was  a  young  priest,  named  Armand 
du  Plessis  de  Richelieu,  a  man  of  good  lineage,  and  already 
eminent  for  talent  and  learning.  He  was  chosen  by  the 
clergy  as  their  orator  to  present  their  memorial  to  the 
Assembly,  though  he  was  but  twenty-nine  years  old. 
The  manner  and  the  matter  of  his  oration  increased  his 
reputation,  and  he  was  from  that  time  a  national  figure 
in  the  politics  of  France. 

At  this  meeting  of  the  States  General,  the  three  orders, 
the  clergy,  nobles,  and  commons,  were  all  represented  ; 
but  they  were  not  in  accord. 

The  clergy  occupied  itself  with  ecclesiastical  demands. 
It  insisted  upon  a  further  recognition  of  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Roman  Church. 

Its  representatives  refused  to  take  up  any  part  of  the 
public  burdens,  saying  that  if  they  did  so  they  would 
thereby  detract  from  the  glory  of  God. 


sxx  LOUIS   THE   THIRTEENTH   AND    RICHELIEU  489 

The  nobles  concerned  themselves  about  offices  and  pen- 
sions. They  wanted  newcomers  kept  out. 

The  commons,  the  Third  Estate,  demanded  a  reduc- 
tion of  the  pensions  paid  the  grandees,  freedom  of  elec- 
tions, extension  of  municipal  privileges  and  security  for 
those  already  granted,  the  calling  together  of  the  States 
General  at  least  once  in  ten  years,  a  suppression  of  useless 
offices,  a  just  division  of  the  public  burdens,  the  reduction 
of  the  number  of  military  offices,  the  suppression  of  duels, 
the  abolition  of  customs  duties  and  other  restrictions  on 
internal  trade,  speedier  and  cheaper  trials  of  law  cases, 
the  equality  of  all  before  the  law,  the  emancipation  of 
serfs,  and  a  fairer  division  of  the  Church  revenues  so  that 
the  poor  curates  might  get  more  and  the  rich  bishops  less. 
They  also  demanded  the  laying  of  protective  duties  upon 
foreign  merchandise. 

Disagreements,  many  and  hot,  broke  out  among  the 
delegates,  and  they  did  nothing  but  wrangle.  The  court 
intervened,  closed  up  their  hall  of  meeting,  and  the  dele- 
gates melted  away. 

The  demands  of  the  Third  Estate  are  very  remarkable, 
as  showing  that  the  grievances  of  the  common  people 
were  the  same  in  1614  as  they  were  in  1789.  Not  the 
least  noticeable  feature  of  these  demands  is  the  request 
that  foreign  merchandise  should  be  taxed  at  the  custom- 
house before  it  could  be  sold  in  France  ;  the  result  of 
which  would  have  been  that  the  Frenchman  who  manu- 
factured goods  of  like  kind  could,  to  the  extent  of  the 
tax,  exclude  foreign  competition.  At  the  time  the  manu- 
facturers of  France  put  forth  this  request,  it  was  a 
novelty.  There  were  then  no  protective  customs  duties 
in  all  the  world.  The  duties  were  asked  for  in  behalf 


490  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

of  the  manufacturers,  who  were  looking  out  for  their 
own  interests  in  1614,  just  as  they  are  doing  at  the 
present  day,  —  just  as  they  have  the  right  to  do  always. 
But  the  manufacturers  at  that  time  had  no  labour  vote 
to  fear,  and  thus  they  were  under  no  political  necessity 
of  saying  that  they  wanted  protective  duties  laid  upon 
foreign  goods  for  the  benefit  of  the  labourers.  Being  so 
situated  that  they  could  afford  to  tell  the  truth,  they 
came  up  like  men  and  said  they  wanted  the  law  in  order 
that  they  might  get  higher  prices  for  their  own  goods. 
In  other  words,  the  French  capitalist  wished  to  shut  out 
the  competition  of  the  foreign  capitalist ;  and  that  purely 
selfish  motive  is  the  soul  of  every  tariff  system,  no 
matter  how  many  plausible  things  to  the  contrary  may 
be  said  to  the  labourers  during  political  campaigns. 
A.D.  In  1615,  Conde  and  his  nobles  found  that  they  could 

1  fil  *\ 

no  longer  endure  the  hardships  which  the  government 
imposed  upon  the  poor  people,  and  they  once  more  re- 
volted. This  time  they  drew  the  Protestants  into  the 
quarrel  and  got  some  of  them  killed. 

A.D.        The    regent    bought    peace    in    May,    1616,    paying 
1616   20,000,000   livres    for    it.      Conde    alone    got    1,500,000 
livres. 

Maria  then  reorganized  her  administration,  taking  into 
it  Richelieu,  who  had  become  bishop  of  LUC.OII.  The  vigour 
of  his  hand  was  at  once  felt.  Conde  was  arrested  and 
thrown  into  the  Bastille,  just  as  though  he  had  been  a  com- 
mon scoundrel,  and  his  followers,  who  talked  of  raising  an 
insurrection  at  Paris,  heard  some  language  from  Richelieu 
which  cooled  their  blood.  He  appealed  to  public  opinion, 
by  issuing  an  address  setting  forth  the  selfish  and  unlaw- 
ful designs  of  the  nobles,  and  deprived  some  of  them  of 


xxx  LOUIS  THE  THIRTEENTH  AND   RICHELIEU  491 

their  dignities,  while  three  armies  were  sent  into  the  field 
to  suppress  the  revolts  in  Picardy,  Champagne,  and  Berry. 

The  revolt  of  the  young  king  from  his  mother's  control 
changed  everything. 

The  adventurer  Concini  had  gone  too  far.  He  had  dis- 
gusted even  his  own  party  by  his  gluttonous  appetite  for 
money  and  office  ;  had  he  been  a  prince  of  the  blood,  he 
could  not  have  been  greedier. 

He  was  also  arrogant  to  the  nobles  —  a  most  unbearable 
offence  ;  and  one  day,  as  the  climax  of  his  insolent  pre- 
sumption, he  dared  to  ask  the  king  to  allow  him,  Concini, 
to  keep  on  his  hat  while  playing  a  game  of  billiards  with 
the  young  monarch,  whom  he  had  partly  reared. 

The  king  was  angered  to  his  very  marrow ;  and  from 
that  moment  Concini  was  a  lost  man. 

There  was  a  young  fellow  named  Albert  de  Luynes,  son 
of  plain  country  people,  who  was  the  trainer  of  the  king's 
hawks. 

This  young  man,  who  came  in  contact  with  the  king 
often  and  had  won  his  personal  friendship,  formed  the  de- 
sign of  becoming  the  king's  favourite,  and  thus  displacing 
Concini. 

With  this  hawk-trainer  of  his,  and  the  head  gardener, 
and  the  captain  of  the  guards,  Louis  XIII.,  now  sixteen 
years  of  age,  entered  into  a  plot  to  kill  Concini. 

The  king  gave  a  formal  order  for  his  arrest,  and  the 
captain  of  the  guards,  understanding  what  was  wanted, 
shot  him  dead. 

The  king  appeared  upon  the  scene,  thanked  the  mur-    A-D- 
derer,  and  his  faithful   subjects   cried,    "  Long  live   the 
king !  "      Concini's  wife  was  arrested,  tried  for  sorcery, 
convicted,  beheaded,  and  her  body  burnt. 


492  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Maria  de'  Medici,  the  queen-mother,  was  ordered  to  leave 
the  court,  and  to  retire  to  Blois.  In  her  fall  Richelieu 
fell.  He  was  sent  back  to  his  bishopric. 

To  Concini  Richelieu  had  owed  his  first  promotion. 
The  Italian  had  recognized  the  genius  of  the  great  French- 
man, and  had  not  been  jealous  of  it.  Richelieu  is  said  to 
have  known  of  the  plot  against  his  benefactor,  and  could 
have  warned  and  thus  saved  him.  He  did  neither.  He 
either  feared  he  should  involve  himself  in  peril,  or  he  con- 
sidered that  Concini's  removal  would  leave  him,  Riche- 
lieu, the  favourite  and  the  ruler  of  the  queen -mother. 
Concini  was  generally  known  as  Marshal  D'Ancre,  and  his 
death  did  leave  Richelieu  master  of  the  queen-mother. 

Albert  de  Luynes  reaped  the  reward  which  he  sought. 
As  a  spoilsman  he  never  had  a  superior.  He  enriched 
himself  out  of  the  public  treasury  and  then  called  in  all 
of  his  country  kin.  The  whole  family  trooped  to  Paris 
and  got  offices,  pensions,  lands,  and  money. 

The  nobles,  justly  incensed  at  seeing  the  spoils  monopo- 
lized in  this  aggravating  manner,  went  to  war  about  it. 
Pretending  that  they  were  hurt  at  the  way  in  which  the 
king  had  treated  his  mother,  they  mustered  their  forces  in 
such  goodly  array  that  De  Luynes,  who  was  no  warrior, 
A.D.  had  to  buy  them  off.  Richelieu  brought  about  peace,  and 
1619  the  queen-mother  secured  good  terms  in  the  general  paci- 
fication. 

The  Protestants  for  many  years  had  been  discontented. 
After  the  apostasy  of  Henry  IV.,  the  triumphant  Catholics 
had  made  it  unpleasant  to  the  disheartened  minority. 
Grievous  were  the  complaints  which  the  weaker  party  al- 
leged against  the  dominant  religion,  and  many  times  they 
had  appealed  to  Henry  IV.  for  protection  and  for  fair  treat- 


xxx  LOUIS  THE   THIRTEENTH  AND  RICHELIEU  493 

ment.  That  easy-going  monarch,  who  stood  in  great  need  of 
papal  favours,  one  of  them  being  a  divorce  from  a  wife  whose 
life  was  as  loose  as  her  husband's,  had  no  wish  to  involve 
himself  with  the  Catholics,  and  he  kept  delaying  until  the 
Protestants  were  desperate.  Three  of  their  ablest  leaders, 
followed  by  their  forces,  withdrew  from  Henry's  army  at 
a  time  when  he  could  not  spare  them,  and  refused  to  serve 
him  further  until  their  liberties  were  secured. 

It  was  under  this  pressure  that  the  Edict  of  Nantes 
was  issued,  —  a  fact  not  often  stated  in  history. 

Henry  being  dead,  and  a  Jesuit  in  secret  control,  Prot- 
estant alliances  were  dropped,  and  the  regent  entered 
into  close  relations  with  Spain.  The  Protestants  were 
alarmed,  and  felt  the  necessity  of  organizing  to  resist 
threatened  attack. 

In  the  little  kingdom  of  Beam,  the  Protestant  worship 
had  long  enjoyed  exclusive  legal  sanction,  under  a  decree 
of  the  mother  of  Henry  IV.,  the  celebrated  Jeanne 
d'Albret,  who  had  been  queen  of  Be"arn. 

Henry  IV.  had  never  seen  fit  to  reverse  his  mother's 
policy,  but,  in  1617,  Maria  de'  Medici  reestablished  the 
Catholic  religion  in  Beam,  and  ordered  the  restitution  of 
church  property.  The  Protestants  bitterly  resented  this 
decree.  They  wanted  to  keep  the  property  they  had 
taken  from  the  Catholics,  and  they  did  not  want  religious 
toleration  in  Beam,  —  except  for  themselves. 

Louis  XIII.  therefore  had  to  enter  Beam  with  an  army 
in  1621,  to  enforce  his  mother's  decree  of  1617. 

This    invasion   aroused   the    Protestants,    not    only   of 
Beam,  but  of  the  whole  kingdom.     A  general  assembly    A.D. 
convened  at  Rochelle,  issued  a  declaration  of  defiance,    1621 
levied  troops,  and  chose  the  Duke  de  Rohan  commander. 


494  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP 

De  Luynes,  who  had  been  made  constable  of  France, 
marched  with  15,000  men  against  the  Protestant  city  of 
Montauban,  besieged  it,  failed  to  take  it,  was  seized  him- 
self with  a  fever,  and  died  December,  1621. 
A.D.  The  war  continued  till  October,  1622,  when  a  treaty 
was  made  by  which  the  Edict  of  Nantes  was  renewed  ; 
but  the  Protestants  lost  all  their  fortresses,  save  Montau- 
ban and  Rochelle. 

The  king  and  his  mother  having  become  reconciled,  the 
queen-mother  testified  her  gratitude  for  the  many  services 
Richelieu  had  rendered  her  by  obtaining  for  him  the 
cardinal's  hat  and  a  seat  in  the  Council  of  State. 
A.D.  Henceforth,  until  the  day  of  his  death,  Cardinal  Riche- 
lieu was  the  real  king  of  France. 

One  of  his  first  acts  was  to  humble  the  Protestants. 
He  made  war  upon  them ;  besieged  Rochelle  once,  and 
failed  to  take  it  ;  besieged  it  again  two  years  later,  and 
took  it. 

After  the  fall  of  Rochelle,  the  Protestants  ceased  to 
form  a  party,  or  to  have  any  political  influence.  They 
were  tolerated,  as  private  individuals,  in  their  form  of 
worship  and  in  their  individual  rights  as  citizens,  but  not 
allowed  to  hold  general  assemblies,  nor  to  maintain  their 
former  organization. 

The  king  and  his  advisers  pretended  to  see  in  the  Prot- 
estant assemblies  and  organizations  something  which 
savoured  of  a  state  within  a  state,  and  which,  therefore, 
must  not  be  tolerated.  The  Catholic  assemblies  and 
organizations,  apparently,  were  things  essentially  dif- 
ferent. 

Richelieu  set  himself  to  humble  the  nobles,  and  when 
he  got  through  hanging,  beheading,  imprisoning,  and 


xxx  LOUIS  THE   THIRTEENTH  AND  RICHELIEU  49<j 

making  war  upon  them,  they  were  in  a  fine  frame  of  mind 
to  become  the  dutiful  courtiers  who  fawned  around  Louis 
XIV.  To  go  into  all  these  details  of  plots  and  counter- 
plots, petty  wars  and  state  trials,  the  beheading  of  this 
noble  and  the  hanging  of  that,  the  confiscation  of  this 
dukedom  and  the  seizure  of  that,  would  require  a  sepa- 
rate volume. 

In  spite  of  plot  after  plot  to  take  his  life,  Richelieu 
lived  and  did  his  great  work  —  the  king  being  little  more 
than  an  intelligent  and  sometimes  resolute  figurehead. 

As  proof  of  Richelieu's  iron  will,  consider  his  conduct 
upon  the  subject  of  duelling.  The  practice  had  become 
a  mania.  Men  fought  to  the  death  upon  the  flimsiest  pre- 
texts. Professional  duellists,  expert  in  the  use  of  the 
sword,  frequently  took  advantage  of  the  code  of  honour, 
to  murder  men  whom  they  hated.  In  1609  it  was  esti- 
mated that  in  the  previous  eighteen  years  4000  gentle- 
men had  lost  their  lives  in  fighting  duels. 

Richelieu  wished  to  put  down  the  practice,  and  secured 
a  royal  decree  forbidding  it  on  penalty  of  death. 

The  gallants  of  the  court  thought  but  lightly  of  this 
decree  ;  and  very  soon,  the  Count  de  Bouteville  and  the 
Count  de  les  Chapelles  fought  a  duel ;  whereupon  Riche- 
lieu hanged  them  both  by  the  neck  until  they  were  dead. 

In  consequence  of  this,  there  was  a  sudden  scarcity 
of  duels  ;  and  this  scarcity  lasted  as  long  as  Richelieu 
breathed. 

The  moment  he  was  dead,  there  being  no  strong  hand 
like  his  to  take  up  the  work  where  he  had  left  off,  duels 
again  multiplied,  so  that  between  1643  and  1654,  940 
gentlemen  were  killed. 

In  1630  came  the  clash  between  Richelieu  and  Maria 


496  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

A..D.  de'  Medici,  by  whose  favour  lie  had  become  cardinal  and 
1030  ruler>  an(l  Richelieu  left  the  court,  thinking  the  king 
would  take  his  mother's  part.  Louis  XIII.,  however,  had 
never  loved  his  mother,  and  while  he  did  not  love  Riche- 
lieu, he  appreciated  his  genius,  and,  perhaps,  feared  it. 

At  any  rate,  he  banished  his  mother,  and  recalled 
Richelieu.  From  then  to  the  time  of  her  death,  the  car- 
dinal and  the  king  followed  the  unlovable  widow  of  the 
great  Henry  with  unrelenting  hate.  She  became  a  wan- 
derer and  a  fugitive,  beating  her  way  drearily  from  the 
cold  farewell  of  one  foreign  court  to  the  chilly  welcome 
of  another.  Without  power  or  influence,  without  money 
or  friends,  without  youth  or  hope,  the  royal  outcast 
finally  made  her  haven  in  the  house  of  a  shoemaker  at 
Cologne,  in  which  the  painter  Rubens  had  been  born 
sixty  years  before.  There,  in  a  garret,  deserted  by  all 
save  one  servant,  and  partly  dependent  upon  charity  for 
food  and  shelter,  this  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Florence, 
this  widow  of  one  king  and  mother  of  another,  died  like 
any  other  poor  old  cast-off,  weather-beaten,  heavy-hearted 
daughter  of  Eve. 

After  her  death,  her  son,  King  Louis  XIII.,  suddenly 
remembered  that  he  owed  her  some  filial  care,  and  he  had 
her  corpse  transported  from  the  distant  Rhine  to  the 
Seine,  and  gave  it  a  magnificent  funeral. 

Like  all  great  rulers  Richelieu  had  an  instinctive  hatred 
of  anarchy,  and  a  constant  craving  for  law,  order,  and 
system.  He  had  seen  France  a  prey  to  factions,  and 
he  set  himself  to  the  task  of  humbling  these  factions. 
He  was  no  democrat,  no  lover  of  the  people,  no  apostle  of 
the  brotherhood  of  man ;  his  hatred  of  the  nobles  grew 
out  of  the  fact  that  their  power  reduced  the  king  to  help- 


xxx  LOUIS  THE  THIRTEENTH  AND  RICHELIEU  497 

lessness,  the  State  to  impotence.  To  make  France  strong 
at  home  and  respected  abroad,  he  felt  that  there  must  be 
a  weakening  of  the  nobles  and  a  strengthening  of  the 
king,  so  that  the  might  of  the  great  nation  could  be 
wielded  with  unity  of  purpose. 

The  power  of  the  nobles  rested  upon  several  founda- 
tions :  1st,  they  were  local  governors  of  their  home  prov- 
inces ;  2d,  they  were  practically  exempt  from  taxation  ; 
3d,  they  enjoyed  social  privileges  as  a  class  which  lifted 
them  above  the  common  people,  while  their  dwellings 
were  so  many  fortresses  within  which  they  could  shelter 
themselves,  defy  the  government,  and  resist  an  army ; 
and  4th,  they  almost  monopolized  the  land,  which  at  that 
time  was  the  most  important  form  of  wealth. 

It  was  not  within  the  power  nor  the  design  of  Riche- 
lieu to  take  away  the  riches  of  the  nobles,  their  social 
supremacy,  or  their  exemption  from  taxation.  He  cared 
nothing  for  the  masses  of  the  people,  and  the  privileges 
of  the  nobles  were  not  obnoxious  to  him  unless  they  came 
into  conflict  with  the  preeminence  of  the  king.  To  the 
extent  that  the  remains  of  the  feudal  system  interfered 
with  the  central  authority,  the  absolutism  of  royalty, 
Richelieu  determined  to  undermine  and  destroy  them. 

In  1626  he  ordered  the  dismantling  of  all  the  fortified 
castles  in  France,  and  they  were  speedily  demolished. 

Even  the  iron  will  of  Richelieu,  however,  shrank  from 
a  direct  attack  upon  the  nobles  as  local  magistrates.  The 
chief  provinces  were  divided  among  nineteen  governors, 
all  belonging  to  the  highest  rank  of  the  nobility.  They 
regarded  their  offices  as  their  private  property,  and 
administered  them  accordingly.  A  direct  assault  upon 
them  by  Richelieu  would  have  produced  civil  war.  Now 

2K 


498  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

and  then  he  could  afford  to  prosecute  one  of  them  sepa- 
rately for  disobedience  and  treason,  and  thus  secure  his 
condemnation  to  death,  but  this  did  not  change  the  system. 

To  effect  his  purpose,  Richelieu  made  permanent  and 
systematic  the  appointment  of  royal  intendants  to  super- 
vise local  affairs,  which  authority  until  his  time  had  only 
been  occasionally  and  temporarily  exercised.  Under  the 
great  cardinal,  these  intendants,  owing  their  appointment 
directly  to  the  crown  and  solely  responsible  to  the  king, 
gradually  seized  upon  the  entire  local  administration  of 
justice,  police,  and  finance. 

Before  the  nobles  fully  comprehended  the  effect  of 
this  policy,  their  power  as  local  governors  was  gone. 
They  were  allowed  to  retain  their  dignity  and  their 
revenues,  but  the  substantial  authority  passed  into  the 
hands  of  middle-class  officials,  who  were  chosen  by  the 
crown  from  the  middle  class  because  such  men  would 
have  neither  the  means  nor  the  inclination  to  resist  the 
king. 

So  rapidly  did  these  intendants  centre  all  administra- 
tive affairs  in  their  own  hands  that  John  Law  could 
truthfully  declare,  in  the  next  century,  "  France  is  gov- 
erned by  thirty  intendants." 

Richelieu  suppressed  the  ancient  offices  of  constable 
and  admiral,  because  they  gave  to  the  holders  more 
power  than  could  be  safely  trusted  to  a  subject. 

Pursuing  the  same  policy  of  making  the  king  an  abso- 
lute monarch,  Richelieu  also  suppressed,  as  far  as  possible, 
various  local  exemptions  and  privileges  which  several  of 
the  provinces  of  France  had  hitherto  enjoyed. 

As  the  capstone  of  the  new  administrative  machine, 
Richelieu  formed  councils  of  the  great  officers  of  the 


LOUIS   THE   THIRTEENTH  AND  RICHELIEU  499 

crown,  each  council  being  charged  with  the  affairs  of 
a  certain  department.  Out  of  the  special  employees 
trained  to  service  in  these  councils  the  intendants  were 
always  selected. 

Above  these  ordinary  councils  rose  the  royal  council, 
or  Cabinet,  over  which  the  king  himself  presided.  The 
chief  officers  of  State  were  usually,  but  not  always,  the 
members  of  the  Cabinet.  The  king  often  appointed  men 
who  held  no  other  office. 

This  Cabinet  wielded  vast  powers.  It  quashed  the 
decisions  of  ordinary  courts,  adjudicated  cases  itself, 
appointed  extraordinary  judicial  commissions,  issued 
edicts  which  became  laws  when  Parliament  registered 
them,  made  war  and  peace,  controlled  the  taxes,  and 
supervised  all  other  administrative  bodies. 

In  reality,  however,  all  this  power  was  vested  solely  in 
the  king.  The  Cabinet  could  advise,  but  the  decision, 
absolute  and  irresistible,  was  with  him. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  local  affairs  were  controlled 
by  intendants  who  had  been  trained  in  the  royal  councils 
and  were  the  creatures  of  the  royal  will,  while  national 
affairs  were  controlled  by  councils  made  up  of  appointees 
of  the  king,  whose  powers  were  merely  advisory.  The 
king  was  lord  of  all.  Nowhere  did  the  people  get  hear- 
ing or  representation.  They  elected  nobody,  controlled 
nobody,  were  consulted  by  nobody.  Whatever  the  govern- 
ment might  please  to  do  for  them  it  could  do  ;  they  could 
do  nothing  for  themselves.  They  had  no  power  of  initiative, 
nor  of  resistance.  In  the  States  General  they  might  be 
represented,  might  find  a  voice,  obtain  a  hearing,  agitate 
grievances,  and  demand  reforms  ;  but  the  States  General 
could  not  meet  of  its  own  motion.  It  was  a  body  which 


500  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

only  existed  when  the  king  summoned  it,  and  under  the 
system  of  Richelieu  it  was  well  understood  that  the 
States  General  was  nevermore  to  be  summoned. 

The  strength  and  the  weakness  of  the  cunning  machine 
of  absolutism  which  Richelieu  slowly  and  arduously  put 
together  will  appear  as  this  narrative  proceeds.  Its 
strength  lay  in  the  wonderful  grandeur  to  which  it  lifted 
the  king  ;  its  weakness  in  the  manner  in  which  it  crippled 
the  progress  of  the  masses  and  kept  them  repressed. 
Even  under  Louis  XV.,  the  system  was  so  strong  that  it 
held  together  of  its  own  inherent  stability  —  one  piece  of 
the  structure  supporting  another,  and  giving  convincing 
evidence  of  the  skill  of  the  workman  who  had  contrived 
it.  Its  weakness  appeared,  again,  when  Louis  XVI.  let 
down  the  flood-gates  by  summoning  the  States  General. 
Even  then  the  genius  of  Richelieu  triumphed,  for  the 
Revolution  has  not  changed  the  centralized  system  which 
the  great  statesman  constructed  ;  the  king  is  no  longer  the 
head  of  it,  but  otherwise  the  system  of  internal  adminis- 
tration is  much  the  same. 

When  Richelieu  came  into  office  the  kingdom  had  no 
navy  worth  the  mention.  In  times  of  war  it  hired  ves- 
sels from  private  citizens.  In  his  siege  of  Rochelle, 
Richelieu  was  forced  to  borrow  ships  from  England  and 
Holland. 

Owing  to  his  energetic  attention  to  the  naval  interest 
of  France,  her  fleet  at  the  time  of  his  death  consisted  of 
fifty-six  men  of  war,  and  her  naval  defences  had  been 
immensely  strengthened.  He  created  the  port  of  Brest, 
encouraged  the  merchant  marine,  and  spared  no  pains  to 
extend  French  colonization. 

While  an  ardent  Catholic  in  his  domestic  policy,  Riche- 


xxx  LOUIS  THE   THIRTEENTH  AND  KICHELIEU  601 

lieu  was,  first  of  all  a  Frenchman,  in  foreign  affairs. 
Believing  it  to  be  for  the  interest  of  France  to  curb  the 
power  of  Austria,  he  allied  himself  with  the  Protestants 
who  were  at  war  with  her,  and  rendered  them  powerful 
aid  in  money  and  men.  Gustavus  Adolphus,  the  Prot- 
estant king  of  Sweden,  had  the  support  of  Richelieu  in 
his  invasion  of  Germany ;  and  when  that  great  warrior 
fell,  in  the  hour  of  victory  at  Liitzen,  France  took 
Sweden's  place  in  the  war. 

In  like  manner  he  waged  war  against  Spain,  humbled 
her,  and  despoiled  her  to  build  up  France. 

But  while  Richelieu  did  so  much  for  the  crown  at  home 
and  abroad,  he  neglected  the  well-being  of  the  French 
people. 

He  gave  no  encouragement  to  agriculture  or  manu- 
factures. He  made  no  attempt  to  unfetter  internal  trade 
from  the  monopoly  of  the  guilds,  or  the  customs  duties 
which  one  province  and  one  town  levied  against  another. 
He  did  not  put  a  stop  to  the  sale  of  offices,  to  the  farming 
out  of  the  taxes,  or  to  the  salt  monopoly.  He  made  no 
effort  to  equalize  the  burdens  of  government,  reduce 
expenses,  abolish  exemptions,  lower  taxes,  or  put  the 
national  finances  in  order.  In  fact,  his  financial  adminis- 
tration was  wretched.  He  winked  at  official  corruption, 
let  a  yearly  deficit  grow,  made  no  effort  to  cure  the  dis- 
order, but  seemed  rather  to  favour  it. 

He  said  that  the  people  should  be  heavily  taxed  to  keep 
them  humble,  and  that  if  they  had  freedom  from  taxes 
they  would  soon  want  freedom  from  kings. 

The  public  burdens  were  very  great,  and  there  were 
riots  in  Paris  and  the  provinces ;  but  the  troops  were  used 
promptly,  and  the  disturbances  harshly  quelled.  At  his 


602  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

death  it  was  found  that  he  had  spent  the  national  revenues 
for  three  years  to  come. 

It  was  under  Richelieu  that  the  French  Academy  was 
incorporated  by  letters  patent,  drawn  up  in  1635,  and 
published  in  1637. 

It  was  also  under  Richelieu  that  the  first  newspaper 
received  sanction  and  encouragement.  Hitherto  the  only 
such  thing  in  France  had  been  an  annual.  This  Once- 
a-year,  being  a  somewhat  sluggish  news-vender  even  for 
those  times,  little  handbills  containing  news  items  began 
to  circulate.  A  Dr.  Renaudot,  in  1631,  secured  a  license 
from  Richelieu  to  publish  a  regular  weekly  newspaper, 
and  thus  was  founded  The  G-azette  of  France.  It  was 
very  modest,  consisting  of  four  pages,  each  containing  a 
single  column. 

Louis  XIII.  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  this  first  of 
newspapers,  and  took  a  special  pleasure  in  the  work.  The 
great  cardinal  also  wrote  for  it,  his  weakness  being  a 
fondness  for  literary  composition. 

With  all  his  will-power  and  sternness,  Richelieu  was 
keenly  sensitive  to  public  opinion.  His  spies  lurked 
everywhere,  listening  to  what  was  said,  in  order  to  report 
it  to  the  lonely  despot  who  sat  far  within  his  great  palace, 
suspicious,  crafty,  unloving,  bent  by  toil  and  care  and 
disease,  but  watchful  of  every  pulse-beat  of  the  kingdom 
whose  master  he  had  come  to  be. 

With  the  quick  intuition  of  genius  it  occurred  to 
Richelieu  that  these  newspapers  could  be  used  as  power- 
ful levers  to  move  and  mould  public  opinion.  Hence  he 
sanctioned  them,  wrote  for  them,  and  encouraged  the 
king  to  write  for  them. 

Ah,  the  frailty  of  human  wisdom,  be  it  never  so  wise  ! 


xxx  LOUIS  THE  THIRTEENTH  AND  RICHELIEU  503 

Richelieu  had  worked  all  his  life  through  peril  and 
crime  and  every  imaginable  obstacle  to  build  a  mighty 
fabric  of  absolutism,  and  here  he  was  fathering  the  news- 
paper, —  the  dynamite  that  was  to  shiver  his  absolutism 
from  turret  to  foundation  stone  ! 

As  poor  Louis  XVI.  saw  his  throne  reeling  from  the 
incessant  battering  of  newspapers,  did  it  ever  enter  his 
dull  head  that  his  great-great-grandfather  had  also  great- 
great-grandfathered  these  same  newspapers  ? 

Richelieu  died  in  December,  1642,  victorious  at  home    A.D. 
and  abroad.     Under  his  administration  the  principalities   ^ 
of  Roussillon  and  of  Sedan  had  been  added  to  France, 
and   her  armies  had  won  important  victories  in  Spain, 
Italy,  and  Germany.     So  completely  was   his   masterful 
influence  established  that  even  after  his  death  the  minis- 
ter he  had  recommended  was  chosen  as  his  successor,  and 
his  policy  faithfully  carried  out  as  long  as  the  king  lived. 

Louis  XIII.    died  of  consumption   in   the    forty-third    A.D. 
year  of  his  age,  six  months  after  the  great  cardinal  who    1643 
had  so  greatly  overshadowed  the  gloomy,  jealous,  irreso- 
lute, and  incapable  monarch,  that  he  is  only  remembered 
as  the  background  which   furnishes  a  contrast   for   the 
daring  genius,  the  tireless  energy,  and  the  imperial  will 
of  Richelieu. 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

LOUIS    THE    FOURTEENTH 

late  king  had  married  a  daughter  of  Philip  III.  of 
Spain  ;  she  is  known  to  history  as  Anne  of  Austria. 

She  had  not  won  the  love  or  the  confidence  of  her  royal 
spouse,  and  for  twenty-two  years  she  continued  childless, 
avoided  by  Louis  and  isolated  by  Richelieu. 

Yielding  to  the  advice  of  Mile,  de  la  Fayette,  whom 
his  pressing  and  dishonourable  suit  had  driven  into  a  con- 
vent, the  king  took  advantage  of  the  excuse  afforded  him 
by  the  sudden  coming  up  of  a  storm  while  he  was  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  queen's  residence,  to  take  shelter  therein 
for  the  night. 

In  due  time  thereafter  a  boy  was  born,  who  was  ad- 
vanced enough  at  the  time  of  his  father's  last  illness  to 
style  himself  "Louis  XIV."  in  his  parent's  presence. 
"  Not  yet,  my  son,  not  yet,"  said  the  dying  king  softly. 

But  the  distrust  with  which  Louis  XIII.  had  so  long 
regarded  his  wife  did  not  leave  him  entirely,  and  by  a 
last  will  and  testament  he  had  sought  to  tie  her  hands  as 
regent.  She  and  her  immediate  partisans  not  being  dis- 
posed to  submit  to  these  limitations  upon  her  authority, 
A.D.  Parliament  was  appealed  to,  just  as  it  had  been  appealed 

1  n  A  q 

'  to  at  the  beginning  of  the  preceding  reign.  The  lawyers 
were  eager  enough  to  assume  political  powers,  and  they 
sustained  Anne  of  Austria  just  as  they  had  sustained 

504 


CHAP,  xxxi  LOUIS  THE  FOURTEENTH  505 

Maria  de'  Medici.  At  a  subsequent  period  this  assertion 
of  political  power  became  most  inconvenient  to  the  sover- 
eign, and  the  lawyers  were  asked  to  let  state  affairs  alone. 

Cardinal  Mazarin,  the  trusted  pupil  of  Richelieu,  was 
chosen  by  the  regent  as  her  chief  counsellor.  He  became 
in  fact  the  master  of  France ;  and  considering  the  fact  that 
they  lived  together,  it  may  be  inferred  that  he  and  the 
queen-mother  were  husband  and  wife. 

The  grandees,  led  by  the  Duke  of  Vendome,  the  son  of 
Henry  IV.  by  Gabrielle  d'Estrees,  thought  it  a  favour- 
able time  to  attempt  the  recovery  of  the  ground  they  had 
lost  under  Richelieu,  and  began  to  cause  trouble. 

The  malcontents  were  banished  from  court,  and  engaged 
in  conspiracies  which  soon  led  to  civil  war. 

The  Spaniards,  emboldened  by  the  death  of  Richelieu, 
had  laid  siege  to  Rocroi. 

Mazarin  was  determined  to  follow  up  the  policy  of  his 
great  predecessor,  and  to  humble  the  House  of  Austria. 

The  great  Conde  began  his  career  by  winning,  at 
the  age  of  twenty-one,  the  battle  of  Rocroi  over  the 
Spaniards,  and  driving  them  out  of  France. 

Conde  was  the  son  of  the  beautiful  Charlotte  de  Mont- 
morency,  whose  perfect  face  and  figure  had  so  completely 
caught  the  roving  fancy  of  Henry  IV. 

After  the  brilliant  service  just  mentioned,  Conde  joined   A.D. 
Turenne  in  Germany,  where  they  inflicted  a  crushing  de-   ] 
feat   on   the   imperial   forces   at   Nordlingen.      In    1646    KJ46 
Conde  beseiged  and  took  Dunkirk. 

Turenne's  campaign  was  also  successful,  and  Vienna 
was  only  saved  from  falling  into  his  hands  by  a  sudden 
rise  in  the  river  Inn. 

The  Peace  of  Westphalia  (1648)  put  an  end  to  hostil- 


506  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

A-D-    ities,  and  thus  a  religious  war  which  had  raged  more  or 
1648   i       f     .      T     ,       •  ,  -, 

less  furiously  for  sixty  years  came  to  an  end. 

By  the  Treaty  of  Westphalia,  the  House  of  Austria 
not  only  recognized  liberty  of  conscience  in  Germany,  but 
she  was  likewise  forced  to  recognize  the  political  in- 
dependence of  the  German  princes.  Within  their  own 
dominions  these  petty  rulers  demanded  and  obtained 
full  sovereignty,  and  the  right  to  contract  foreign  al- 
liances was  also  conceded  to  them. 

In  this  manner  the  glory  passed  away  from  the  German 
Empire.  Nothing  but  a  shadow  was  left. 

Supremacy  in  Europe  was  now  transferred  to  France. 
In  course  of  time  she  was  to  lose  it,  as  the  House  of 
Austria  had  lost  it,  —  by  embarking  upon  vast  schemes 
of  aggrandizement,  and  allowing  the  clergy  too  much 
influence  in  affairs  of  State. 

By  the  Treaty  of  Westphalia,  also,  Alsace  was  ceded 
to  France  in  full  sovereignty,  and  the  upper  Rhine  fell 
under  French  control. 

While  her  interests  in  foreign  affairs  had  been  prosper- 
ing in  this  substantial  manner,  France  was  torn  by  faction 
at  home.  Internal  affairs  were  badly  managed  ;  Mazarin 
was  poor,  and  had  his  fortune  to  make  ;  his  relatives  were 
poor,  and  had  their  fortunes  to  make. 

To  comfort  these  adventurers,  millions  of  public  moneys 
were  required. 

Then  again,  the  nobles  were  discontented  at  the  diminu- 
tion of  their  ancient  feudal  importance,  and  they  exacted 
a  great  deal  of  nursing  financially. 

Added  to  these  sources  of  embarrassment  was  the  whole- 
sale and  scientific  pillage  practised  by  the  farmers  of  the 
taxes.  The  foreign  war  had  been  necessarily  expensive,  and 


xxxi  LOUIS  THE   FOURTEENTH  507 

thus,  with  war  abroad,  and  thieving  at  home,  the  treasury 
was  piteously  drained. 

Credit  was  so  low  that  loans  could  not  be  made  for  less 
than  twenty-five  per  cent. 

Public  dues  were  only  paid  in  part,  taxes  were  vigorously 
collected,  new  offices  were  created  and  sold  to  the  highest 
bidder,  and  fines  levied  under  obsolete  laws. 

The  Parliament  of  Paris  took  the  lead  of  the  malcon- 
tents, influenced,  perhaps,  by  the  fight  which  the  British 
Parliament  was  then  waging  against  the  Stuarts. 

Except  in  name  there  was  no  similarity  between  the 
two  parliaments. 

In  England  the  Parliament  was  the  people,  assembled 
by  representatives,  and  clothed  with  legislative  power. 

In  France  the  Parliament  was  a  court  of  law,  composed 
of  men  who  had  bought  their  offices,  and  clothed  with  no 
legislative  power  whatever.  But,  without  having  any 
distinct  legal  right  to  do  so,  the  lawyers  had  fallen  into 
the  habit  of  protesting  against  bad  laws  and  royal  encroach- 
ments ;  and,  out  of  this  habit,  we  shall  see  a  revolution 
grow  in  course  of  time. 

The  reforms  demanded  of  the  regent  by  the  Parliament 
of  Paris  were  set  forth  in  twenty-seven  articles,  which 
were  offered  for  the  royal  sanction,  in  order  that  they 
might  become  the  law  of  the  kingdom. 

It  was  asked  that  thereafter  no  taxes  should  be  collected   A.D. 
unless  they  had  first  been  discussed  and  voted  on  by  the   ] 
Parliament ;    the  intendants,  or  overseers,  appointed  by 
the  crown,  were  to  be  abolished,  and  local  affairs  given 
back  to  local  control  ;   writs  of  arbitrary  arrest,  called 
lettres  de  cachet,  were  to  be  suppressed,  and  the  right 
of  speedy  trial  given  to  prisoners. 


608  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Mazarin  had  not  the  faintest  idea  of  allowing  changes 
of  this  radical  character  in  the  old  system  under  which  he 
was  prospering,  and  he  took  advantage  of  the  enthusiasm 
created  by  the  military  victories  in  Germany  to  order  the 
arrest  of  three  of  the  most  prominent  members  of  the 
Parliament. 

This  was  the  spark  in  the  powder-house,  and  a  popular 
explosion  followed.  The  people  of  Paris  flew  to  arms, 
the  shops  were  shut,  chains  drawn  across  the  streets,  barri- 
cades thrown  up,  and  half  a  million  patriots  were  shouting 
"Liberty  and  Broussel"  around  the  palace,  —  Broussel 
being  one  of  the  three  whose  arrest  had  been  ordered,  and 
whose  servant  had  been  bold  enough  to  make  a  row  over 
the  question. 

Mazarin  and  the  queen  mother  gave  in ;  and  the  re- 
forms demanded  were  promised  in  writing  by  the  regent. 
Peace  at  once  followed. 

But  Mazarin  had  only  yielded  in  order  to  gain  time. 
As  soon  as  the  foreign  war  was  off  his  hands  he  intended 
to  crush  the  factions.  In  February,  1649,  the  court  left 
Paris  for  Ruel  and  troops  were  collected.  The  Parlia- 
ment called  in  the  aid  of  the  discontented  grandees  and 
thus  commenced  the  strangest  civil  war  on  record.  It  is 
known  in  history  as  the  war  of  the  Fronde  — fronde  being 
the  name  of  a  child's  sling. 

It  was  a  war  in  which  there  was  more  confusion  than 
fighting,  more  intrigue  than  bloodshed,  more  universal 
discontent  than  specific  purpose,  a  war  in  which  the 
masses  who  followed  the  rebel  leaders  wanted  one  thing, 
and  the  leaders  quite  another. 

A.D.        In  this  war  of  the  Fronde  we  see  the  Prince  of  Conde, 
1649   a  member  of  the  royal  family,  playing  the  part  of  a  rebel 


xxxi  LOUIS  THE  FOURTEENTH  609 

chief,  and  Cardinal  de  Retz  trying  to  outplot  Cardinal 
Mazarin  ;  we  see  Paris  take  sides  first  with  the  govern- 
ment, and  then  with  the  rebels  ;  we  see  Marshal  Turenne 
meeting  Conde  in  pitched  battle  at  the  gates  of  Paris  ; 
we  see  the  Great  Mademoiselle,  daughter  of  the  king's 
uncle,  directing  the  cannon  of  the  Bastille  upon  the  king's 
troops  ;  we  see  Mazarin  fleeing  from  the  kingdom  to  far 
Cologne,  and  from  that  remote  region  still  pulling  the 
wires  which 'direct  the  movements  of  the  regent ;  and  we 
see,  toward  the  end,  that  nearly  all  the  prominent  leaders 
have  changed  sides  completely  before  the  situation  clears. 

Conde  was  for  the  court  at  first,  fought  its  battles,  and 
won  them ;  but,  growing  too  arrogant,  as  Mazarin  thought, 
he  was  arrested,  and  kept  in  prison  thirteen  months. 
Released  by  the  queen  mother,  he  remained  surly  and 
soon  revolted.  Having  fought  Turenne,  and  gained  pos- 
session of  Paris,  he  soon  lost  control  of  the  turbulent 
populace,  and  left  his  country  in  disgust.  Joining  the 
Spaniards,  he  made  war  upon  the  French,  was  tried  in  his 
absence,  and  condemned  to  death.  He  was  afterwards 
defeated  by  Turenne  at  the  battle  of  the  Dunes ;  and, 
when  peace  was  made  between  France  and  Spain,  his  par- 
don was  made  a  condition  by  the  Spaniards,  and  was  re- 
luctantly granted  by  the  French. 

Turenne,  on  the  other  hand,  at  first  joined  the  rebels 
and  commanded  their  army  ;  then  he  went  over  to  the 
government,  and  was  given  command  of  its  army. 

The  government  itself  was  first  on  one  side  and  then 
the  other.  First  it  sued  for  peace  and  granted  the  re- 
forms—  Mazarin  taking  himself  off  to  Cologne.  Then 
it  suddenly  plucks  up  courage,  Mazarin  comes  hurrying 
home,  Turenne  takes  command  of  the  royal  forces,  the 


510  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

battle  of  St.   Antoine  is  fought  between   Turenne   and 

A.D. 

1652   Conde,   the    latter    enters    Paris,    seemingly    victorious, 
and    royalty  is    apparently   lost  —  when    Conde    waxes 
wroth  about  something   else,   sulks    off   to    Spain,   and 
rebellion    finds    itself    without    competent    leadership. 
Royalty,  so  recently  in  gloom,  once  more  basks  in  sun- 
shine.    The  young  king  and  the  royal  family,  escorted 
A.D.    by   Turenne    and    the    army,   makes  a  triumphant  en- 
1608   try  into   Paris,  and  the   hurly-burly   of  the   Fronde  is 
over. 

There  is  one  explanation  which  accounts  for  the  endless 
confusion  of  this  singular  war.  It  is  this  :  the  grandees 
who  led  the  rebels  wished  to  recover  the  feudal  powers 
and  properties  they  had  lost  under  Richelieu,  while  the 
mass  of  the  rebels  thought  of  establishing  checks  both 
upon  the  grandees  and  the  king.  There  being  hopeless 
want  of  consistency  in  the  motives  which  actuated  the 
rebels  and  their  leaders,  there  was  naturally  a  want  of 
coherence  in  the  rebellion. 

A.D.       The   civil  war  being   ended,  Mazarin   now  gave  the 
1655   Spaniards  his  attention.     Turenne  led  the  French  army, 
1658   and  led  it  to  victory.     The  Spaniards,  despite  the  gen- 
eralship of  Conde",  were  beaten  and  sued  for  peace.     One 
A.D.    of  the  articles   of   the  treaty   which   followed   provided 
1669   for  the  marriage  of  the  young  king  of  France  to  Maria 
Theresa,  daughter  of  the  king  of  Spain. 

This  marriage  took  place,  accordingly,  in  June,  1660. 
The  Treaty  of  the  Pyrenees,  which  brought  peace  to 
France  and  Spain,  was  highly  advantageous   to  France 
and  marked  a  corresponding  decline  in  the  power  of  the 
house  of  Austria. 

Mazarin,  who  was  perhaps  the  most  supple,  most  ava- 


xxxi  LOUIS  THE   FOURTEENTH  511 

ricious,  and  most  unscrupulous  politician  France  ever 
had,  remained  master  of  the  government  until  his  death, 
March  8,  1661. 

His  little  savings  amounted  to  100,000,000  francs, 
and  the  legacy  he  left  to  France  was  a  public  debt  of 
430,000,000  francs. 

Louis  XIV.  at  once  took  the  reins  of  government  in    A.D. 
his   own  hands,  announced   that  he  would  be   his   own   ] 
minister,  reduced  his  councillors  to  the  position  of  mere 
clerks,  worked  eight  hours   every  day  on  the   business 
of  State,  made  his  personal  will  the  law  of  the  kingdom, 
and  believed  he  uttered  the  simplest  of  truisms  when  he 
said,  "I  am  the  State." 

Heredity  does  much ;  training  does  more ;  and  the 
atmosphere  in  which  we  live  does  more  than  both  com- 
bined. Philip  II.  of  Spain  kidnaps  the  infant  son  of 
William  of  Orange,  a  man  doubly  hated  for  being  both 
rebel  and  Protestant.  The  boy  is  carried  to  Spain,  is 
trained  and  taught  by  priests,  breathes  the  very  essence 
of  Catholicism  year  in  and  year  out ;  sees  through  Cath- 
olic eyes,  hears  through  Catholic  ears,  judges  by  Catholic 
standards ;  and  at  length,  when  he  is  set  free  to  go  back 
to  Holland,  he  is  a  Catholic  of  Catholics — hating  heretics 
as  intensely  as  Philip  hated  them. 

Louis  XIV.,  about  whose  monstrous  conception  of  his 
own  prerogatives  so  much  has  been  said,  was  but  a  simi- 
lar example  of  what  can  be  done  by  training.  Heredity 
drove  him  toward  absolutism,  education  saturated  him 
with  it,  and  the  atmosphere  of  adulation  in  which  he 
lived  deepened  the  illusion. 

At  heart  no  worse,  perhaps,  than  the  average  man,  in 
mind  very  much  above  the  average,  this  monarch  lived 


612  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

to  do  France  an  amount  of  evil  which  the  worst  of  men 
could  not  have  surpassed,  and  to  lead  her  into  follies 
which  the  blindest  stupidity  could  not  have  rivalled. 

Louis  XIV.  actually  believed  that  France  was  as  much 
his  own  individual  estate  as  he  believed  that  the  royal 
palace  was  his  own  individual  dwelling  ;  God  had  given 
him  the  crown,  the  kingdom,  and  the  people.  Of  this 
he  was  sure,  and  nothing  ever  occurred  to  shake  his  faith. 
Some  shadowy  notions  he  had  about  the  property  having 
been  given  to  him  in  trust,  but  the  execution  of  the  trust 
was  a  matter  which  lay  between  him  and  God.  Parlia- 
ments had  no  voice  in  it.  The  people  had  nothing  to  do 
with  it.  Even  the  grandees  —  although  in  his  splendid 
way  he  bade  them  come  to  his  court  and  shine  as  lesser 
luminaries  around  himself,  the  central  sun  —  were  made 
to  understand  that  they  drew  all  their  radiance  from  him, 
the  source  of  the  light,  he  being  the  fountain-head  of 
honour,  power,  and  privilege. 

Louis  was  twenty-three  years  old  when  Mazarin  died. 
France  at  this  time  enjoyed  peace  ;  the  government 
was  strongly  centralized,  and  the  young  monarch  could 
wield  the  whole  strength  of  the  State  without  hindrance 
from  any  source  ;  his  army  was  commanded  by  Conde' 
and  Turenne,  the  first  generals  of  the  age. 

Louis'  position,  in  comparison  with  that  of  his  neigh- 
bours, was  one  of  preeminence,  and  he  felt  it. 

Between  the  ambassadors  of  France  and  those  of 
Spain  there  had  long  been  a  dispute  as  to  precedence. 
That  is,  the  French  ambassadors  claimed  the  right  to 
go  before  those  of  Spain  upon  state  occasions,  in  court 
ceremonials,  and  so  forth.  The  Spaniards  did  not  con- 
cede this  claim,  and  the  consequence  was  that  strife  broke 


xxxi  LOUIS  THE  FOURTEENTH  613 

out  between  the  diplomatic  representatives  of  the  two 
kingdoms.  Unseemly  wrangles  embroiled  the  courts  to 
which  they  were  accredited  ;  and,  over  this  squabble  as 
to  which  of  two  men  should  walk  in  front  of  the  other, 
two  great  nations  were  about  to  go  to  war. 

An  acute  crisis  in  the  dispute  occurred  in  London.  A.D. 
Louis  XIV.  directed  his  ambassador  to  seize  the  first 
place  at  the  next  public  ceremonial,  and  to  hold  it. 
These  instructions  became  known.  The  French  prepared 
to  enforce  their  claim  to  precedence,  the  Spaniards  to 
resist  it. 

The  next  court  ceremony  happened  to  be  the  recep- 
tion of  the  ambassador  of  Sweden.  The  French  gath- 
ered a  force  of  five  hundred  men  ;  the  Spaniards  also 
assembled  in  large  numbers.  Then  came  the  tug  of 
war  over  the  great  question  whose  coach  should  come 
next  to  that  of  the  English  king,  Charles  II. 

A  street  fight  followed,  and  the  French  were  worsted. 
The  horses  drawing  the  coach  of  the  French  ambassador 
were  killed,  and  also  some  of  his  attendants.  The 
Spanish  ambassador,  swelling  with  pride,  followed  next 
to-  the  coach  of  the  king,  fifty  professional  fighters, 
with  swords  bare  and  ready  for  business,  keeping  guard; 
all  London  looking  on  and  applauding,  for  the  French 
were  not  loved  in  London. 

When  the  incident  became  known  in  Paris,  Louis 
was  beside  himself  with  rage.  The  Spanish  ambassador 
at  the  French  court  was  immediately  dismissed.  Per- 
emptory demand  was  made  upon  the  king  of  Spain  for 
satisfaction.  That  aged  person  was  feeble  in  body, 
feeble  in  mind,  and  feeble  in  military  resources.  His 
son-in-law,  Louis  XIV.,  was  well  aware  of  the  facts. 

2L 


514  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

A.D.    Spain  had  to  yield,  to  avoid  a  war  she  was  not  prepared 

1  f*on 

'  to  meet.  The  Spanish  ambassador  at  London  was  re- 
called and  disgraced.  A  special  envoy  of  Spain  was  sent 
to  France  to  apologize.  In  presence  of  the  whole  court 
and  the  entire  diplomatic  body,  the  Spanish  envoy  ex- 
pressed the  regrets  of  the  king  of  Spain  for  what  had 
occurred,  and  promised  that  thenceforth  no  Spanish 
envoy  should  presume  to  go  in  front  of  the  representa- 
tives of  France.  From  that  good  hour  until  doomsday, 
it  was  respectfully  promised  the  French  monarch  that 
Spain  should  walk  behind. 

Next  year  there  came  another  fine  opportunity  for 
Louis  XIV.  to  browbeat  a  potentate  weaker  than  himself. 

A  brawl  having  occurred  in  the  streets  of  Rome  be- 
tween the  Corsican  guard  of  the  Pope  and  some  retainers 
of  the  French  ambassador,  the  palace  of  the  latter  was 
A.D.  attacked,  and  several  of  the  French  killed.  The  Pope 
1663  refused  to  punish  the  aggressors.  Louis  sent  the  papal 
nuncio  off  to  the  frontier  under  military  guard,  and 
prepared  an  army  of  24,000  men  to  march  upon  Rome. 
The  Parliament  of  Paris  declared  Avignon  reunited  to 
France,  and  the  Sorbonne  declared  that  the  Pope  was 
not  infallible  after  all,  and  that  he  should  not  inter- 
meddle with  the  temporal  affairs  of  kings. 

In  September,  1663,  the  advance  guard  of  the  French 
army  crossed  the  Alps  ;  the  main  body  was  to  follow 
in  the  early  spring. 

The  Pope  had  all  along  been  deluding  himself.  He 
had  supposed  that  Louis  was  too  good  a  Catholic  to 
draw  sword  on  the  Holy  Father.  But  while  Louis 
loved  the  Church  well,  he  loved  the  State  better  yet, 
for  he,  Louis,  was  the  State.  The  Pope  had  also  be- 


xxxi  LOUIS  THE  FOURTEENTH  615 

lieved  that  the  Catholic  princes  and  peoples  would 
rise  up  and  defend  the  successor  of  St.  Peter.  But 
the  princes  and  peoples  did  not  rise. 

Therefore,  Alexander  VII.  found  himself  confronting, 
alone,  an  angry  king  whose  subjects  had  been  shot  down 
in  violation  of  law,  and  whose  demand  for  redress  had 
been  contemptuously  denied. 

Thereupon  the  Pope  yielded  to  inexorable  facts,  apolo- 
gized for  the  wrong,  dismissed  his  Corsican  guard,  prom- 
ised that  nevermore  would  he  employ  Corsicans  in  the 
papal  government,  and  erected  a  monument  in  the  streets 
of  Rome  upon  which  he  caused  to  be  inscribed  the  story 
of  the  quarrel  and  the  manner  of  its  settlement. 

The  Pope's  nephew,  Cardinal  Chigi,  was  sent  to  Paris, 
furthermore,  to  express  to  Louis,  publicly,  the  Pope's 
regrets  for  the  late  difficulty  and  for  the  incident  which 
had  caused  it ;  and  to  assure  the  pompous  young  mon- 
arch of  the  Holy  Father's  love  and  distinguished  con- 
sideration. 

Then,  and  not  till  then,  did  his  Holiness  obtain  for- 
giveness, and  the  restoration  of  Avignon. 

These  bloodless  triumphs  over  Philip  IV.  of  Spain, 
and  Alexander  VII., — two  elderly  gentlemen  who  had 
little  spirit,  less  health,  and  insufficient  troops, —  made  a 
great  stir  throughout  Europe,  and  gave  Louis  XIV.  a 
commanding  influence.  His  neighbours  began  to  dread 
his  ambition  and  to  fear  his  power. 

He  had  already,  in  1662,  bought  from  that  contemp- 
tible king,  Charles  II.,  the  city  of  Dunkirk,  which  the 
strong  hand  of  Cromwell  had  added  to  the  possessions  of 
England.  The  price  was  5,000,000  livres.  The  place  was 
at  once  fortified,  and  has  remained  a  French  city  ever  since. 


616  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

A.D.  In  September,  1665,  Philip  IV.  of  Spain  died,  and  was 
1605  succeeded  by  his  son,  Charles  II.,  a  child  four  years  old. 
He  was  too  weak  to  stand  alone,  had  neither  teeth  nor 
hair,  and  could  not  hold  his  head  up.  This  puny  repre- 
sentative of  divine  right  was  solemnly  acknowledged  as 
monarch  of  a  realm  which  stretched  all  over  the  world. 
The  foreign  ambassadors  ceremoniously  visited  his  puling 
Majesty,  and  formally  made  their  little  speeches  of  con- 
gratulation to  him,  his  nurse  holding  the  king  in  his 
chair  while  this  courtly  farce  was  being  acted. 

If  the  fetich  worshippers  of  Darkest  Africa,  naked 
barbarians  that  they  are,  could  witness  some  of  our 
civilized  customs  and  ceremonials,  they  would  not  doubt 
the  brotherhood  of  man,  for  while  our  civilization  takes 
on  much  varnish,  we  at  heart  remain  faithful  to  the  fetich 
worship  of  our  heathen  forefathers.  We  make  unto  our- 
selves idols,  graven  images,  and  Mumbo-Jumbo  gods  out 
of  bright  cloth  and  waving  feathers,  and  before  these 
hand-made  gods  we  fall  down  upon  our  faces  —  humbly 
thanking  them  for  allowing  us  to  live. 

The  wife  of  Louis  XIV.  was  the  daughter  of  Philip 
IV.  by  his  first  wife.  According  to  a  custom  which  pre- 
vailed among  private  individuals  in  parts  of  the  Spanish 
Low  Countries,  Brabant,  Hainault,  and  Flanders,  now 
Belgium,  the  children  of  a  first  marriage  inherited,  in 
preference  to  those  of  a  second. 

Claiming  that  this  custom  applied  to  kingdoms  as  well 

as  to  farms  and  cattle,  Louis  demanded  that  the  Spanish 

Low   Countries   be   surrendered   to   him.      His    demand 

A.D.    having  been   denied,  he  sent   50,000   troops  under   the 

667    great  Turenne    to    take   possession   of    the    property    in 

dispute.      The    Spaniards    were    totally    unprepared    to 


xxxr  LOUIS  THE  FOURTEENTH  617 

resist.  The  French  took  city  after  city,  with  ease  and 
despatch.  Louis  himself  followed  the  campaign,  with 
a  gorgeous  train  of  carriages,  containing  his  brilliantly 
dressed  courtiers,  his  two  beautiful  mistresses,  and  his 
meek,  dutiful,  and  adoring  queen,  to  give  the  glory  of 
his  presence  to  this  splendid  military  parade.  The 
natural  consequence  of  this  demonstration  was  that 
Louis'  neighbours  grew  more  jealous  and  uneasy  than 
ever.  Holland  adjoined  the  Spanish  Low  Countries, 
and  the  Dutch  began  to  ask  themselves  where  the  French 
monarch  meant  to  stop.  The  question  having  grown 
more  pressing  as  the  invasion  came  nearer  and  nearer  to 
their  frontier,  these  practical  Dutch  politely  requested 
Louis  to  state  what  would  satisfy  his  demands  in  that 
particular  quarter  of  the  globe. 

In  reply,  he  said  he  would  accept  in  full  of  all  his 
claims  the  territory  which  he  had  already  seized  ;  or  that 
he  would  take,  in  lieu  thereof,  the  province  of  Franche- 
Comte. 

With  some  slight  changes,  the  Dutch  were  content 
with  these  terms,  but  Spain  was  not.  So  the  war  went  on. 

A  Triple  Alliance  was  formed  between  England,  Hol- 
land, and  Sweden  to  enforce  peace.     Spain  then  saw  the 
necessity  of  submitting.      Louis   obtained  the   territory 
occupied  by  his  troops,  just  as  he  had  been  willing  to  do 
previous  to  the  formation  of  the  Triple  Alliance.     Al- 
though   his    troops    under    Conde   had   already  overrun 
Franche-Comte  before  Spain  agreed  to  sign  the  Treaty    A.D. 
of   Aix-la-Chapelle,   Louis    gave    up    all   his   conquests,   1668 
excepting  those  in  the  Spanish  Low  Countries. 

The  French  king,  however,  was  angry  with  the  Dutch. 
They  had  ignored  the  fact  that  France  had  aided  Holland 


518  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

(very  slightly)  in  her  recent  struggle  with  England. 
They  had  presumed  to  quit  their  alliance  with  him,  and 
to  combine  with  England  and  Sweden  to  compel  him  to 
accept  terms  he  had  offered  to  accept  without  compulsion. 
Moreover,  they  had  abused  him  in  their  newspapers,  and 
had  caused  a  medal  to  be  struck  in  which  the  Dutch  were 
represented  as  stopping  the  onward  career  of  the  sun, 
Louis  XIV.  Besides,  the  Dutch  were  Protestants,  repub- 
licans, and  mere  merchants.  Their  insolence  was  not  to 
be  borne.  With  one  voice,  the  silken  courtiers,  who 
hovered  round  Louis  and  burnt  incense  before  him  both 
day  and  night,  clamorously  demanded  the  punishment  of 
these  pestiferous  Dutch. 

During  four  years  preparations  were  made  to  destroy 
the  Dutch  Republic.  Charles  II.  of  England  was  bribed 
out  of  the  Triple  Alliance,  and  into  a  compact  with  Louis. 
By  a  secret  article  of  the  treaty  between  these  two  kings, 
Charles  promised  to  profess  himself  openly  a  Catholic, 
and  Louis  agreed  to  pay  him  2,000,000  livres  and  to 
furnish  him  with  6000  Catholic  troops  to  put  down  any 
disturbance  the  Protestants  of  England  might  make  in 
consequence  of  his  change  of  religion.  Louis  also  bought 
off  Sweden,  and  secured  the  neutrality  of  the  German 
princes  in  the  same  manner.  Two  of  the  German  poten- 
tates who  had  to  be  approached  were  the  bishops  of 
Miinster  and  of  Strasbourg.  They  revelled  in  the  oppor- 
tunity, rejoicing  that  they  had  something  to  sell  which 
the  richest  monarch  in  Europe  wanted  to  buy.  Louvois, 
the  War  Minister  of  Louis,  grumbled  that  he  had  to  lose 
a  whole  day  in  the  negotiation  because  the  bishops  "  got 
so  drunk  overnight  celebrating  the  situation  that  they 
could  do  no  business  "  the  following  day. 


xxxi  LOUIS  THE  FOURTEENTH  519 

But  in  due  time  the  bishops  grew  sober,  the  price  of 
their  neutrality  was  agreed  on,  and  the  money  paid. 

The  Dutch  were  now  isolated,  they  were  to  breast  the 
storm  alone  ;  and  the  fate  of  Holland  —  the  gallant  little 
country  which  Dutch  labour  had  wrenched  from  the  sea, 
and  which  Dutch  courage  had  held  against  all  the  hosts 
of  Spain,  led  by  Don  John  of  Austria,  Alva,  and  Parma  — 
seemed  to  be  sealed  at  last. 

In  Holland,  at  this  time,  the  chief  magistrate,  known  as 
the  Grand  Pensionary,  was  John  de  Witt.  This  wise 
republican  had  foreseen  the  troubles  which  were  coming 
upon  the  Spanish  Low  Countries,  and  had  suggested  a 
plan  of  settlement.  After  centuries  of  bloodshed,  the 
plan  he  proposed  was  substantially  that  upon  which  a 
settlement  has  been  reached,  but  it  was  rejected  at  the 
time,  and  the  storm  gathered.  De  Witt  had  warned  his 
countrymen  against  the  English  alliance.  He  had  no 
faith  in  Charles  II.,  and  he  knew  that  Holland's  appear- 
ance in  a  hostile  coalition  against  France  would  provoke 
the  wrath  of  the  proud  and  powerful  Louis. 

De  Witt  was  overruled ;  the  alliance  with  England  was 
formed,  the  resentment  of  the  French  king  thereb}r 
aroused ;  and  Holland  was  deserted  by  Charles  II.  in  the 
hour  of  her  need. 

The  Dutch,  finding  themselves  threatened  by  the  whole 
weight  of  Louis'  power,  and  without  a  friend  in  all  the 
world,  were  deeply  penitent  and  sincerely  scared.  They 
sent  a  trembling  deputation  to  Paris,  whose  delegates  bent 
in  the  dust  before  the  mighty  Louis,  and  sought  to  avert 
his  wrath.  They  were  rudely  rebuffed.  They  then  turned 
to  England,  and  prayed  her  to  keep  her  faith  as  pledged 
in  the  Triple  Alliance. 


620  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP 

Charles  II.  had  no  love  for  the  Dutch.  He  had  spent 
in  Holland  some  of  the  wretched  days  of  his  exile,  and 
had  met  little  favour  there.  It  now  pleased  him  to  be 
royally  insolent  to  the  Dutch  deputation,  and  to  send  it 
away  in  despair. 

In  May,  1672,  Louis  poured  an  army  of  100,000  men 
into  Holland,  while  the  English  attacked  the  Dutch  on 
the  sea.  The  country  seemed  doomed.  City  after  city 
surrendered  to  the  French,  the  Rhine  was  forded,  and 
Amsterdam  itself  would  have  fallen  but  for  the  delays 
of  the  invaders. 

In  June  the  States  General  of  Holland  made  the  most 
humiliating  offers  to  secure  peace.  They  proposed  to 
give  up  one-third  of  their  country,  and  to  pay  10,000,000 
livres  to  reimburse  Louis  his  expenses.  Their  offers  were 
insultingly  rejected. 

Louis  demanded  that  they  should  surrender  more  than 
one-third  of  their  country,  pay  24,000,000  livres  indem- 
nity; allow  the  Catholic  religion  to  be  exercised  in  that 
portion  of  their  country  which  he  would  permit  them  to 
keep,  support  the  Catholic  priests  by  salaries  paid  by  the 
State  ;  and,  finally,  to  send  to  Paris,  once  a  year,  a 
solemn  embassy,  which  should  present  a  medal  engraved 
with  the  thanks  of  the  Dutch  to  him  for  having  restored 
peace  to  their  country. 

These  insulting  terms  drove  the  Dutch  to  desperation. 
The  national  spirit  rose.  Death  seemed  preferable  to 
such  dishonour.  Having  no  armies  to  summon,  they  called 
upon  the  sea.  The  dykes  were  cut,  the  country  flooded, 
and  the  French  were  halted  in  mid-career. 

One  great  crime  the  desperate  Dutch  committed.  They 
turned  against  John  de  Witt,  the  patriot  and  statesman, 


xxxi  LOUIS  THE   FOURTEENTH  521 

and  tore  him  to  pieces  in  the  streets.  They  laid  to  his 
door  all  the  misfortunes  which  had  come  upon  them, 
being  specially  angry,  doubtless,  because  of  the  fact  that 
they  had  gone  into  the  English  alliance  in  opposition  to 
his  advice. 

William  of  Orange  now  became  the  leader  of  the 
Dutch.  To  his  patient,  persistent  hatred  of  Louis,  his 
rare  skill  in  setting  other  princes  against  the  French 
monarch,  and,  above  all,  to  his  wonderful  capacity  to 
take  defeat  after  defeat  until  he  wore  out  the  victors  who 
beat  him,  Holland  owed  her  salvation. 

By  the  cutting  of  the  dykes  a  large  portion  of  Holland  A.D. 
had  been  given  back  to  the  ocean.  In  those  portions  of  1673 
the  country  where  the  French  held  possession,  hideous  1678 
atrocities  were  committed. 

Writing  to  the  Minister  of  War,  the  following  report 
was  made  by  Marshal  Luxembourg  :  — 

"M.   de   Maqueline    was    obliged   to   burn   a   village. 
Horses  and  cattle  were  burned,  and  they  say  plenty  of    ' 
peasants,  women,  and  children." 

Writing  to  the  Prince  of  Concl^,  he  said,  "  The  soldiers 
roasted  all  the  Dutch  in  the  village  of  Swammerdam; 
they  did  not  let  one  escape." 

Remember  that  this  is  the  exultant  language  of  a  great 
French  captain,  writing  to  other  high  officials. 

William  of  Orange,  in  the  meantime,  was  not  idle.  To 
all  the  courts  of  Europe  he  sent  deputations,  asking 
aid. 

Europe  slowly  responded.  The  German  emperor,  the 
elector  of  Brandenburg,  the  king  of  Spain,  and  finally 
England,  all  took  the  side  of  Holland.  Sweden,  alone, 
aided  France. 


522  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

In  1674  the  French  withdrew  from  Holland,  and  the 
man-hunt  rolled  off  to  the  Rhine,  and  to  Flanders. 
Again  Franche-Comte  was  occupied  by  Louis,  and  many 
towns  in  the  Spanish  Low  Countries  fell  into  his  hands. 

But  at  last  the  French  monarch  yearned  for  peace,  and 
his  pride  was  not  so  great  but  that  he  was  willing  to 
make  concessions  to  the  despised  Dutch  in  order  to 
get  it. 

He  agreed  to  reduce  the  heavy  tariff  which  he  had  laid 
upon  Dutch  imports  and  to  remove  other  trade  restric- 
tions to  which  they  objected.  These  concessions  soothed 
the  rich  merchants  of  Holland,  and  they  inclined  their 
hearts  to  peace. 

Not  so  William  of  Orange.  He  still  wanted  war. 
Louis  tried  to  conciliate  him  and  win  him  over,  but  with- 
out success.  The  indomitable  man  actually  attacked  the 
French  army  after  he  learned  that  peace  had  already 
been  made.  He  hoped  to  win  a  victory,  and  thus  keep 
the  war  going  on.  It  required  six  hours  of  desperate 
fighting  to  beat  him  off.  This  unjustifiable  act,  resulting 
in  the  loss  of  2000  lives,  is  a  stain  upon  his  memory. 
A.D.  The  day  after  this  bloody  repulse,  William  received 
167  official  notice  from  the  States  General  of  Holland  that 
the  Treaty  of  Nimeguen  had  been  signed. 

France  kept  Franche-Comte,  which  has  ever  since  been 
hers,  and,  by  retaining  twelve  places  along  the  Nether- 
lands frontier,  fixed  her  northern  boundary  substan- 
tially where  it  now  lies.  Louis  XIV.  gave  way  to  the 
Dutch  on  the  question  of  the  tariff  duty,  and  the  brave 
little  republic  upon  whose  ruin  Louis  had  concentrated  all 
his  strength,  came  out  of  the  struggle  without  the  loss 
of  any  valuable  territory. 


xxxi  LOUIS  THE  FOURTEENTH  523 

Whatever  glory  there  was  in  the  contest  remained  with 
Holland,  and  her  people  celebrated  their  triumphant 
resistance  to  foreign  invasion  with  justifiable  enthusiasm. 
Not  only  had  they  put  the  first  decisive  check  upon 
Louis'  ambition,  but  in  William  of  Orange  they  had 
furnished  the  leader  whose  policy  of  uniting  the  rest 
of  Europe  against  France  was  to  humble  the  pride  of 
Louis  and  bring  his  kingdom  to  the  brink  of  ruin. 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

LOUIS   THE  FOURTEENTH   (continuecT) 

time,  however,  was  yet  far  distant  when  the 
French  king  was  to  feel  any  humility.  The  Treaty 
of  Nimeguen  left  him  master  of  the  situation,  although 
he  had  not  succeeded  in  his  designs.  His  armies  had 
been  continuously  victorious  ;  they  had  only  stopped  in 
Holland  when  the  water  became  too  deep  to  wade. 
They  could  not  drive  back  the  North  Sea  at  the  point  of 
the  bayonet ;  neither  could  they  spend  a  lifetime  in  re- 
peatedly beating  so  tough  a  person  as  William  of  Orange. 

Louis  had  made  peace  because  he  was  weary  of  the  ex- 
pense and  trouble  of  war ;  and  because  he  saw  that  such 
victories  as  he  had  been  winning  over  William  and  the 
Dutch  were  not  worth  the  cost.  So  Louis  majestically 
quit  fighting  and  went  back  to  join  the  ladies  of  his 
seraglio. 

By  the  Treaty  of  Nimeguen  the  places  ceded  to  France 
were  specifically  named,  but  it  was  further  provided  that 
"  the  dependencies "  of  the  ceded  territories  were  like- 
wise to  be  her  property. 

What  were  these  dependencies?  Louis  XIV.,  strong 
in  his  army  of  140,000  men,  began  to  examine  the  ques- 
tion, with  an  eye  to  further  conquest.  He  established 
certain  tribunals  of  his  own  to  look  into  this  matter  of 
dependencies.  Ancient  documents  were  hunted  up  to 

524 


CHAP,  xxxn  LOUIS  THE  FOURTEENTH  525 

show  that  certain  other  places  formerly  belonged  to  the 
territories  granted  to  Louis  by  the  Treaty  of  Niraeguen. 
The  statute  of  limitation  was  serenely  ignored;  adverse 
possession  cut  no  figure  at  all.  The  French  judges  of  the 
tribunals  trying  the  question  of  dependencies  knew  what 
decisions  Louis  would  expect,  and  with  loyal  readiness 
they  passed  upon  each  issue  in  a  manner  pleasing  to  the 
monarch. 

By  the  decisions  of  this  accommodating  tribunal,  sup- 
ported as  they  were  by  the  largest  standing  army  that 
Europe  had  then  seen,  Louis  gained  twenty  important 
cities  which  other  princes  and  potentates  had  supposed 
for  a  number  of  years  to  be  their  own.  Thus  Sweden 
lost  a  slice  of  her  territory  ;  Spain  was  still  further  de- 
spoiled ;  and  the  German  princes  were  deprived  of  con- 
siderable property  in  towns,  cattle,  and  people,  in  a  manner 
most  abrupt  and  annoying. 

The  German  Diet,  seeing  no  end  to  the  encroachments 
of  a  king  who  advanced  upon  his  neighbours,  backed 
by  supple  judges  and  irresistible  troops,  gravely  asked 
of  Louis  that  he  should  state  how  much  he  claimed 
and  meant  to  take.  By  way  of  answer  Louis  said 
he  intended  to  take  all  that  the  treaty  gave  him.  His 
meaning  probably  was  that  he  meant  to  take  all  that  he 
could  get ;  and  the  German  Diet  so  understood  him. 

The  reckless  spirit  of  aggression  which  had  seized  the 
French  monarch  is  well  shown  by  the  following  incident. 

Louvois,  his  Minister  of  War,  began  to  fortify  a  piece  of 
land  in  Germany  which  did  not  belong  to  France.  The 
Germans  protested  against  the  seizure.  Louvois  wrote 
to  the  Parliament  of  Mentz  to  send  him  a  decision  cover- 
ing the  land  in  dispute,  and  to  "  date  it  back."  The 


626  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE 

obliging  judges  did  as  requested,  duly  certifying  under 
their  hands  and  seals  that  the  decision  was  six  years  old. 
Louvois  went  forward  with  his  fortifications,  and  the 
Germans  were  left  to  their  reflections. 

The  city  of  Strasbourg  was  seized  by  the  French  army  in 

A.D.    1681,  some  of  the  leading  citizens  having  been  handsomely 

bribed  to  open  the  gates  and  to  favour  French  annexation. 

In  Italy  the  fortress  of  Casale  was  also  occupied  by  the 
French,  —  after  certain  eminent  persons  had  agreed  upon 
its  price. 

General  irritation  was  felt  among  the  European  princes 
at  the  steady  advance  of  French  dominion,  and  Spain,  in 
a  small  way,  began  to  fight.  But  she  alone  was  no  match 
for  Louis,  and  the  German  emperor  had  as  much  war  as 
he  wished  in  resisting  the  Turks.  England  was  kept 
quiet  by  pensions  paid  to  Charles  II.  ;  and  the  rest  of 
Europe  was  not  yet  ready  to  go  into  a  bloody  struggle 
with  so  powerful  a  king  as  Louis  XIV. 

He  next  turned  his  guns  upon  Genoa,  once  a  power- 
ful republic,  but  now  a  decayed  state,  drowsing  along 
under  a  feeble  doge. 

A.D.  It  seems  that  the  citizens  of  Genoa  had  criticised  Louis 
1684  with  considerable  freedom,  and  had  dared  to  sell  ships 
to  the  Spaniards  and  Algerines,  with  whom  he  was  at  en- 
mity. Genoa  was  warned  of  the  danger  she  incurred  ; 
she  was  ordered  to  quit  building  ships,  and  was  told  to 
pay  to  the  descendant  of  a  certain  Genoese  political  offen- 
der the  property  which  had  belonged  to  his  family  a 
hundred  years  before,  and  to  pay  also  to  their  descendant 
a  hundred  years'  interest  upon  the  claims. 

Genoa,  being  a  free  and  independent  state,  refused  to 
comply  with  Louis'  imperious  demands. 


xxxn  LOUIS  THE  FOURTEENTH  627 

The  French  fleet  promptly  appeared  before  the  beau- 
tiful city,  threw  10,000  bombs  among  her  unprotected 
people,  levelled  the  palaces  of  the  rich  and  the  huts  of  the 
poor,  gave  to  the  fire  the  homes  of  thousands  of  men 
who  had  committed  no  offence  whatever  against  the 
French  king,  and  bespattered  the  streets  with  the  blood 
of  helpless  victims  of  insolent,  deliberate,  and  imperial 
murder. 

Genoa  was  almost  demolished ;  the  warehouses  of  her 
merchants,  whose  ships  had  sailed  to  the  far  East,  went 
up  in  flames  ;  and,  by  the  glare  of  the  burning  buildings, 
the  French  in  their  ships  far  out  at  sea  could  read  at 
night. 

"  The  princes  of  Europe  have  learned  that  one  does  not 
offend  with  impunity  the  greatest  monarch  in  the  world." 

In  this  braggart  and  heartless  style  did  Louis  XIV. 
comment  on  his  cowardly  attack  upon  a  helpless  foe. 

But,  although  Genoa  was  in  ashes,  she  was  told  that  the 
French  king,  his  Most  Christian  Majesty,  was  not  yet 
ready  to  forgive  her  for  her  disobedience  of  his  com- 
mands. He  required  that  the  doge  should  come  to  Paris, 
accompanied  by  the  chief  Genoese  officials,  and  present  a 
formal  and  public  apology  in  behalf  of  their  city.  The 
Genoese  law  forbade  the  doge  to  leave  the  city ;  but  he 
had  to  go,  nevertheless,  and  present  to  the  French  monarch 
an  elaborate  apology  in  which  Louis  was  assured  that  in 
valour,  greatness,  and  magnanimity  he  excelled  all  the 
kings  of  whom  history  had  made  mention.  Soothed  by 
such  abject  submission  to  his  royal  will,  Louis  permitted 
what  was  left  of  Genoa  to  continue  to  exist. 

The  Duke  of  Savoy  was  treated  in  the  same  arrogant 
spirit.  He  wished  to  take  a  trip  to  Vienna,  but  the 


628  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

French  ambassador  hinted  to  him  that  Louis  would  not 
like  it,  so  the  trip  was  abandoned  ;  neither  was  he  allowed 
to  send  an  ambassador  to  Spain. 

In  the  Alpine  valleys  of  Savoy  there  lived  some  de- 
scendants of  the  ancient  Waldenses  or  Vaudois.  Louis 
XIV.  ordered  the  Duke  of  Savoy  to  drive  these  people 
out  from  their  homes,  and  to  expel  them  from  his  do- 
minions. The  duke  submitted,  and  ordered  the  Vaudois 
to  leave.  But  Louis,  distrusting  the  duke,  sent  French 
troops  into  Savoy  to  drive  away  the  subjects  of  this  inde- 
pendent prince. 

The  Vaudois  bravely  but  fruitlessly  resisted  the  French. 
Villages  were  burnt,  men,  women,  and  children  butchered, 
and  homes  desolated.  "Neither  people  nor  animals  are 
left,"  were  the  words  in  which  the  French  commander 
officially  reported  to  Louvois.  "  If  the  soldiers  do  not 
kill  those  who  are  taken  with  arms  in  their  hands,  they 
are  sent  to  the  hangman." 

A  few  thousand  prisoners  were  the  only  living  remnant 
of  a  pastoral  people  whose  only  crime  was  that  they  wor- 
shipped God  in  a  manner  different  from  that  prescribed 
by  Louis. 

At  last  all  Europe  was  aroused  against  the  intolerable 
pride,  greed,  and  aggression  of  the  king  of  France.  In 
July,  1686,  the  League  of  Augsburg  was  formed  against 
him  by  Spain,  Sweden,  the  emperor  of  Germany,  and 
most  of  the  German  princes.  By  his  arbitrary  imperious- 
ness,  Louis  had  profoundly  angered  both  Catholics  and 
Protestants. 

He  had  offended  the  former  by  seizing  the  revenues  of 
the  Church,  by  putting  a  public  humiliation  upon  the 
Holy  Father,  and  by  refusing  to  allow  a  reform  of  the 


xxxii  LOUIS  THE  FOURTEENTH  629 

abuses  of  the  right  of  asylum  which  ambassadors  claimed 
at  the  papal  court  in  Rome.  The  Pope  was  clearly  in  the 
right  in  wishing  to  accomplish  the  reform.  This  right  of 
asylum  had  been  greatly  overstrained ;  the  ambassadors 
not  only  claiming  that  persons  domiciled  in  the  legation 
were  exempt  from  arrest,  but  that  arrest  could  not  be 
made  in  the  immediate  section  of  the  city  in  which  they 
condescended  to  live.  The  result  was  that  nearly  one- 
third  of  Rome  was  taken  from  the  Pope's  control  and 
became  a  refuge  for  harlots,  thieves,  and  murderers. 

Louis  XIV.  not  only  refused  his  consent  to  the  reform    A  D 
proposed  by  the  Pope,  but  sent  French  troops  to  sustain    1687 
the    ambassador   of    France    in    maintaining    privileges 
utterly    destructive    of    the    public   peace,    safety,    and 
morality. 

But  grievous  as  were  the  complaints  of  the  Catholics 
against  Louis  XIV.,  what  pen  can  draw  the  indictment 
which  the  Protestants  brought  against  him  ? 

He  had  been  their  enemy  from  the  beginning.  He  had 
encroached  upon  their  legal  and  natural  right  every  year 
of  his  reign.  He  had  deprived  them  of  the  security  guar- 
anteed them  by  his  grandfather,  Henry  IV.,  in  the  Edict 
of  Nantes  ;  he  had  suppressed  the  mixed  tribunals,  half- 
Protestant  and  half-Catholic,  which  had  been  instituted 
for  their  protection  ;  he  had  forbidden  them  to  act  as 
notaries,  solicitors,  advocates,  printers,  booksellers,  physi- 
cians, surgeons,  or  apothecaries.  He  had  thus  closed  all 
public  offices  and  liberal  professions  to  them.  He  had 
decreed  that  Protestant  children,  seven  years  old  and  up- 
wards, might  renounce  the  authority  of  their  parents, 
choose  their  own  guardians,  and  renounce  the  Protestant 
religion,  thus  giving  to  religious  fanaticism  a  tremendous 

2M 


630  THE   STORY  OP    FRANCE  CHAP. 

weapon  for  the  destruction  of  domestic  peace  in  Protestant 
families.  He  had  established  missionary  stations  for  the 
conversion  of  Protestants,  and  had  fixed  a  scale  of  money 
payments  for  those  who  apostatized,  and  for  those  who 
effected  the  apostasy. 

He  had  made  the  home  of  every  respectable  Protestant 
a  hell  to  him  by  quartering  soldiers  in  the  house,— 
licentious  brutes  who,  by  day  and  by  night,  were  encour- 
aged by  their  officers  to  outrage  every  feeling  of  decency 
and  modesty  the  father  or  the  mother,  the  husband  or  the 
wife,  the  son  or  the  daughter  might  have,  —  there  being 
absolutely  no  escape  for  the  victims  of  soldier  insolence, 
violence,  obscenity,  and  lust,  except  in  turning  to  the  state 
religion.  Only  by  apostasy  could  Protestants  escape  the 
dragoons  and  the  "dragonnades." 

But  even  all  this  accumulation  of  wrong  was  not 
enough  for  Louis.  On  October  22,  1685,  he  formally 
revoked  the  Edict  of  Nantes. 

All  the  privileges  enjoyed  by  Protestants  under  Henry 
IV.  and  Louis  XIII.  were  withdrawn.  The  public  exer- 
cise of  their  worship  was  forbidden.  Their  ministers  of  the 
gospel  were  ordered  to  leave  France  within  two  weeks. 
The  people  were  forbidden  to  follow  their  pastors  on  pain 
of  confiscation  of  property  and  sentence  to  the  galleys. 
The  marriage  of  Protestants  were  declared  null,  and 
the  children  thereof  illegitimate. 

Persecutions  were  pressed  savagely.  Those  convicted 
of  being  Protestants  and  refusing  to  become  Catholics 
were  cast  into  prison  and  their  property  confiscated. 

Ministers  of  the  gospel,  wherever  captured,  after  the 
two  weeks  allowed  for  escape,  were  put  to  death. 

In  spite  of  the  penalties  threatened,  nearly  a  quarter  of 


LOUIS  THE  FOURTEENTH  531 

a  million  Protestants  fled  from  the  country,  using  every 
kind  of  disguise  to  get  across  the  frontier.  Not  only  did 
these  fugitives  carry  to  foreign  lands  the  arts  and  indus- 
tries of  France,  not  only  did  Louis  drive  from  the  looms 
and  shops  and  foundries  of  his  kingdom  the  best  artisans 
of  the  world,  but  he  drove  into  the  armies  of  his  bitterest 
enemies  thousands  of  recruits  who  thenceforward  fought 
him  with  a  savage  passion  which  nothing  but  death  could 
chill.  On  many  a  bloody  field,  in  his  bleak  latter  years, 
Louis  was  to  see  the  way  to  victory  marked  out  for  his 
foes  by  the  valiant  Frenchmen  to  whom  he  made  France 
intolerable. 

Marshal  Schomberg,  the  Protestant,  to  whom  Louis 
gave  leave  to  quit  France,  carried  his  sword  to  William 
of  Orange,  and  at  the  battle  of  the  Boyne  he  led  the  Eng- 
lish and  the  Dutch,  who  routed  the  French  on  that  fate- 
ful day. 

In  the  Netherlands,  in  Germany,  and  in  England,  entire 
regiments  were  formed  of  these  refugees ;  and  throughout 
Europe  the  story  of  persecution  aroused  wrath  which 
gathered  like  a  storm-cloud  round  the  head  of  the  French 
king. 

Strange  to  say,  he  hastened  the  tempest  by  another 
attack  upon  the  Pope. 

The  elector  of  Cologne  died  in  June,  1688  ;  and  it  was    A.D. 
important  to  Louis  that  his  successor  should  be  as  pliant   1688 

a  tpol  of  France  as  the  deceased  had  been. 

• 

The  French  candidate  was  Fiirstenberg,  bishop  of 
Strasbourg  ;  the  choice  of  the  opposition  was  Prince 
Clement  of  Bavaria.  Out  of  the  twenty-four  votes  of  the 
chapter  in  which  was  vested  the  power  to  elect,  Fiirsten- 
berg got  thirteen  votes  and  Clement  nine.  But  a  rule 


632  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

of  the  chapter  provided  that  a  candidate  who  already 
held  a  bishopric  must  get  two-thirds  of  the  votes,  hence 
Fiirstenberg  did  not  have  enough. 

The  Pope  had  it  in  his  power  to  dispense  with  this  two- 
thirds  rule,  and  Louis  requested  him  to  do  so.  But  the 
Holy  Father  was  not  grieved  to  see  the  wheels  of  oppor- 
tunity turn  round  and  present  to  him  the  sweets  of  retali- 
ation. He  curtly  and  contemptuously  refused  the  French 
monarch's  request,  and  issued  a  papal  decree,  or  bull, 
recognizing  Prince  Clement  as  elector  of  Cologne. 

Louis  poured  his  troops  into  Germany,  laid  siege  to 
Philippsburg,  and  thus  commenced  a  war  which  was  to 
last  nine  years. 

The  French  king  had  350,000  soldiers  led  by  able 
generals.  In  Italy,  in  Spain,  in  the  Netherlands,  in 
Ireland,  in  Germany,  war  was  waged. 

William  of  Orange  had  become  king  of  England  by  the 
Revolution  of  1688,  which  drove  out  James  II.  Louis 
welcomed  the  royal  fugitive  with  imperial  courtesy,  made 
the  quarrel  of  James  his  own,  and  sent  fleets  and  armies  to 
reinstate  upon  the  English  throne  a  monarch  whom  the 
English  people  had  cast  out. 

Ireland  was  made  the  basis  of  the  French  attack  on 
England — Ireland  being  strongly  Catholic.  At  the  bat- 
tle of  the  Boyne,  the  royal  father-in-law,  James  II.,  was 
defeated  by  his  son-in-law,  William  of  Orange,  and  once 
more  escaped  to  France,  his  cause  hopelessly  lost,  while 
William  remained  monarch  of  Great  Britain.  In  all  his 
warlike  operations,  from  youth  to  old  age,  William  found 
no  opponent  excepting  his  father-in-law  whom  he  could 
beat,  and  the  battle  of  the  Boyne  was  an  oasis  in  the 
desert  of  his  manifold  drubbings. 


xxxn  LOUIS  THE  FOURTEENTH  533 

On  the  Rhine  the  French  occupied  the  territories  of    A.D. 
Cologne,  laid  waste  the  Palatinate  with  barbarous  cruelty,    ] 
dismantled  the  beautiful  town  and  castle  of  Heidelberg, 
swept  the   fields   bare  with   fire   and   sword,  and  drove 
100,000  homeless  wretches  into  exile,  to  spread  all  over 
Germany  the  story  of  French  atrocity. 

In  Italy  the  Duke  of  Savoy  lost  town  after  town,  until    A.D. 

1  £!QA 

he  had  nothing  left  but  Turin.     In  the  Netherlands  Lux- 
embourg, a  great  soldier,  commanded.     Assisted  by  Vau- 
ban,  the  famous  engineer,  he  took  the  fortified  cities  of 
Mons  and  Namur.     Louis  XIV.  had  caused  himself  and  his 
ladies  to  be  carried  to  the  front,  and  in  majestic  self-com- 
placency he  looked  on  from  a  safe  distance,  while  the 
sieges  were  being  pressed.     After  the  capitulation,  he  sin-    A.D. 
cerely  believed  that  he  had  achieved  the  triumph  by  him-    ' 
self,  and  he  returned  with  his  train  to  Paris  to  feast  upon 
the  praise  of  the  admiring  world. 

But  William  of  Orange  was  in  the  field  now,  prepared 
to  hang  on  with  bulldog  tenacity,  ready  to  do  any 
amount  of  fighting,  take  any  number  of  beatings,  and 
never  let  go  until  his  point  had  been  gained. 

Coming  over  from  England,  he  arrived  too  late  to  save    A.D. 
either    Mons    or  Namur.      He    fought    Luxembourg    at   ] 

and 

Steenkerke,  and  got  whipped  unmercifully.  A  short  time  ^93 
afterwards  he  was  at  Denain  with  50,000  men,  offering 
battle  to  Louis  XIV.,  who  had  90,000.  And  Louis,  in- 
stead of  accepting  the  challenge,  hurriedly  bade  adieu  to 
his  astonished  officers,  turned  his  royal  back  upon  the 
challenger,  and  whirled  away  to  Paris. 

Luxembourg  was  so  disgusted  with  the  proceeding  that 
he  gathered  up  his  army,  weakened  as  it  was  by  the  loss 
of  20,000  men  sent  by  Louis  to  Italy,  fell  upon  the  impu- 


634  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

dent  William,  and  beat  him  soundly  in  the  bloody  battle 
of  Neerwinden. 

Our  tough  Dutchman  stood  the  defeat  with  his  usual 
fortitude,  and  before  many  months  have  passed  we  find 
A>D-  him  retaking  the  great  fortress  of  Namur,  which  had  cost 
Louis  so  much  blood  and  treasure. 

Thus,  while  the  French  troops  were  victorious  in 
pitched  battles,  the  results  which  followed  were  disap- 
pointing. 

In  another  quarter  appeared  a  foe  who  was  to  do 
immense  harm  to  France.  Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy  was 
a  Frenchman  by  birth  —  the  son  of  a  niece  of  Cardinal 
Mazarin.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  had  applied  to  Louis 
for  a  regiment.  The  Grand  Monarch  had  contemptuously 
refused  to  make  a  colonel  out  of  the  "  little  Savoyard 
abbe,"  and  the  insulted  prince  entered  the  service  of  the 
House  of  Austria.  In  1692  he  led  the  Austrian  forces 
in  Italy,  routed  the  French  completely,  and  invaded 
France.  The  miseries  which  the  French  had  inflicted 
upon  Italy  and  Germany  were  now  in  turn  suffered  in 
Dauphiny. 

The  condition  of  the  French  people,  in  consequence  of 
this  prolonged  and  senseless  war,  was  wretched  in  the 
extreme.  Taxation  was  ruinously  heavy,  trade  was 
blocked,  and  production  discouraged. 

One-tenth  of  the  population  was  reduced  to  beggary. 
"  France  is  one  vast  hospital,"  says  Fenelon,  memorial- 
izing the  king  himself. 

If  this  was  the  state  of  France,  what  must  have  been 
the  horrors  of  the  situation  in  those  provinces  where  the 
war  was  waged  ? 

Cities  had  been  half   destroyed,    towns    and  villages 


xxxn  LOUIS   THE    FOURTEENTH  535 

burnt  or  depopulated,  fields  ravaged,  entire  districts 
turned  into  charred,  smoking,  blood-stained  solitudes. 

And  for  what  ? 

To  gratify  the  inordinate  pride  and  ambition  of  an 
absolute  king  who  believed  that  his  word  should  be  law 
to  European  princes  and  peoples. 

After  nine  years  of  fighting,  France  was  bleeding  at 
every  pore,  and  weak  to  exhaustion. 

Louis  wanted  peace  ;  observe  his  manner  of  seeking  it. 

He  approached  the  Duke  of  Savoy  and  sought  to  de- 
tach him  from  the  coalition.  Louis  had  been  very  over- 
bearing to  this  little  duke,  had  denied  him  the  pleasure 
of  a  visit  to  Vienna  and  sundry  other  things  ;  had  inter- 
fered in  his  domestic  government,  had  driven  away  his 
peaceful,  industrious  subjects,  and  had  bullied  him  abomi- 
nably and  systematically. 

Now  all  was  changed,  Louis  was  in  a  corner,  and 
needed  this  little  duke  — in  fact,  was  obliged  to  secure 
him,  regardless  of  price. 

The  fortress  of  Casale  was  surrendered  to  the  duke, 
then  Pignerol,  which  Richelieu  had  won  for  France, 
then  every  town  and  all  the  territory  Louis  had  seized 
during  the  war.  Furthermore,  the  duke  was  prom- 
ised that  his  daughter  should  marry  the  heir  to  the 
crown  of  France,  and  was  assured  that  henceforth  Louis 
would  not  bully  him  any  more,  but  would  treat  him  as 
an  independent  king. 

Upon  these  conditions  the  duke  became  mollified,  pulled 
out  of  the  coalition,  and  the  great  federation  against  France 
fell  to  pieces. 

The  Treaty  of  Ryswick  (1697)  put  an  end  to  the  war. 
Louis  had  commenced  it  in  order  to  install  his  candidate,  1697 


536  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP,  xxxn 

Fiirstenberg,  as  elector  of  Cologne  ;  he  not  only  failed 
utterly  to  do  this,  but  in  order  to  obtain  peace  he  was 
compelled  to  surrender  all  that  France  had  acquired  in 
twenty  years,  excepting  Strasbourg.  He  gave  up  the 
places  he  had  seized  under  the  decisions  of  the  special 
French  tribunals,  pledging  himself  not  to  resort  to  that 
kind  of  spoliation  any  more.  He  formally  recognized 
William  of  Orange  as  lawful  king  of  England,  and  prom- 
ised to  give  no  aid  to.  any  claimant  to  that  throne.  He 
refused  to  concede  liberty  of  worship  to  the  Protestants 
in  France  ;  but  he  exacted  it  for  the  Catholics  in  the 
territories  which  he  surrendered. 

The  .Treaty  of  Ryswick  was  a  humiliation  to  Louis  and 
to  France. 

"We  have  always  beaten  the  enemy,"  said  Vauban,  in- 
dignantly, "  and  yet  we  make  a  peace  which  dishonours  the 
king  and  the  nation." 

This  was  true ;  but  when  one  beats  an  enemy  like 
William  of  Orange,  and  wears  one's  self  out  in  doing  it, 
what  remains  but  to  sue  for  peace  ? 


CHAPTER   XXXIII 

SOME  NAVAL  HEROES  :  DUQUESNE  ;  JEAN  BART  ;  D'ES- 
TREES.  WARS  OF  THE  GRAND  MONARCH  ;  HIS  SECRET 
MARRIAGE  TO  -MADAME  DE  MAINTENON 

TOURING  the  several  wars  of  the  Grand  Monarch  there 
was  fighting  at  sea  as  well  as  on  land,  and  the  French 
naval  commanders  won  some  important  battles  —  and 
lost  some. 

In  Duquesne  the  French  developed  a  sea-fighter  of  fine 
ability.  He  beat  and  destroyed  the  combined  fleets  of 
Holland  and  Spain  in  three  successive  actions  in  the 
Mediterranean  (1676) ;  bombarded  Algiers,  Tunis,  and 
Tripoli ;  humbled  the  pirates  (1681-1683) ;  and  crushed 
Genoa  (1684). 

Duquesne  was  a  Protestant,  who,  born  at  Dieppe  in 
1610,  first  commanded  a  vessel  of  his  own,  and  rose  from 
a  privateer  through  all  the  grades  of  promotion  until  he 
was  made  lieutenant-general.  He  could  rise  no  higher 
because  of  his  religion. 

D'Estrees  was  another  naval  commander  of  distinction. 
He  captured  Cayenne  (1676),  and  destroyed  ten  of  the 
enemy's  vessels  in  the  port  of  Tobago.  In  1678  he  con- 
quered the  island  itself,  and  seized  all  the  Dutch  factories 
in  Senegal. 

Tourville,  convoying  to  Ireland  the  expedition  of  James 
If.  (1689),  was  beset  by  the  united  squadrons  of  England 

637 


538  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

and  Holland.  He  attacked  them  off  Beachy  Head  (1690) 
and  won  a  brilliant  victory.  He  lost  the  battle  of  La 
Hogue  (1692),  which  he  fought  against  overwhelming 
odds,  in  obedience  to  the  peremptory  orders  of  Louis 
XIV.  ;  but  in  1693  he  had  his  revenge  in  the  victory  of 
Cape  St.  Vincent  in  the  bay  of  Lagos. 

Jean  Bart  is  a  robust  figure  of  these  times.  He  came 
of  a  race  of  corsairs  of  Dunkirk.  A  corsair,  you  must 
know,  was  a  gentleman  pirate.  He  did  unto  all  ships  but 
those  of  his  own  country  the  deeds  which  pirates  did  unto 
all  ships  without  exception. 

The  grandfather  of  Jean  Bart  had  been  a  celebrity, 
known  in  corsair  circles  as  the  Sea-fox.  His  death  was 
heroic.  The  Dutch  had  attacked  him  with  overwhelming 
force  and  had  boarded  his  vessel.  All  the  crew  were 
dead,  save  the  Sea-fox.  Into  the  hold  of  the  vessel  which 
he  could  not  save  crept  the  resolute  commander,  torch  in 
hand,  and  while  the  victors  were  enjoying  their  triumph 
on  the  deck,  he  put  his  torch  to  the  powder  stored  in  the 
hold.  There  was  a  mighty  explosion  ;  and  the  ships,  and 
the  Dutchmen,  and  the  desperate  Sea-fox,  all  went  into 
chaos  together. 

The  father  of  Jean  Bart  was  likewise  a  semi-pirate  of 
eminent  respectability  —  standing  exceedingly  well  with 
his  neighbours,  who  helped  him  enjoy  the  plunder  he  took 
on  the  seas. 

Thus  Jean  was  cradled  in  the  luxuries  and  liberties  and 
heroisms  of  legalized  piracy,  and  from  his  youth  up  he 
followed  the  sea. 

In  1666  he  served  in  the  crew  of  a  man  of  war  com- 
manded by  a  brute  named  Valbue.  Even  at  this  early 
age  Jean  Bart  was  a  hero  ;  and  perhaps  his  courage  and 


xxxin  SOME  NAVAL   HEROES  639 

humanity  were  never  more  conspicuously  shown  than  in 
his  attempt  to  save  from  death  a  Huguenot  sailor  who 
was  judicially  murdered  by  Valbue. 

In  those  days  the  captain  of  a  ship  was  master  of  life 
and  death  on  board  his  vessel. 

The  laws  of  Oleron  were  supposed  to  be  his  guide. 
This  code  was  brief  and  simple.  "  An  eye  for  an  eye  " 
was  its  underlying  principle.  If  a  sailor  drew  a  knife 
upon  another,  the  offending  hand  was  nailed  to  the  mast 
with  a  knife.  If  he  wounded  a  messmate  in  the  arm,  his 
own  arm  paid  the  penalty.  If  he  killed  a  comrade,  his 
own  body  was  tied  to  that  of  his  victim,  and  both  were 
cast  into  the  sea. 

Sailors  were  fond  of  this  code,  and  practised  it  for  sev- 
eral hundred  years.  It  was  easy  to  understand;  it  re- 
quired no  experts  to  expound  it ;  no  precedents  had  to  be 
hunted  down ;  no  motion  for  a  new  trial  vexed  the  public. 
The  ship's  crew  were  called  up,  a  vote  on  the  facts  was 
taken,  and  the  captain  acted  as  judge,  jury,  and  counsel. 

There  was  one  Huguenot  sailor  in  the  crew  of  Valbue, 
and  his  religion  made  him  the  butt  of  his  messmates. 

One  evening  Valbue  was  telling  of  a  miracle  he  had 
heard  of  from  some  priest.  According  to  this  story  a 
bishop  had  walked  upon  the  water  to  the  relief  of  a  storm- 
tossed  Breton  vessel,  and  had  worked  at  the  pumps  with 
more  than  mortal  power  till  the  craft  was  saved. 

At  the  close  of  his  tale,  Valbue  threw  at  the  Huguenot 
an  insulting  remark  and  a  tin  can.  Both  missiles  hit  the 
target.  The  Huguenot,  Lanoix  by  name,  appealed  from 
this  rough  usage  to  the  laws  of  Oleron.  Valbue,  angered 
by  his  resistance,  struck  Lanoix  with  a  capstan  bar. 

Lanoix  retreated  over  the  iron  rail  which  ran  across  the 


540  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

fore  part  of  the  ship,  and  warned  Valbue  not  to  strike 
him  again,  "  for  I  have  passed  the  chain. "  Had  Lanoix 
been  a  Catholic,  this  appeal  would  probably  have  saved 
him,  for  the  captain  had  no  right  under  the  law  to  pur- 
sue him  when  he  had  crossed  "  the  chain  of  refuge,"  as  it 
was  called  in  the  law,  —  analogous  to  the  right  of  sanc- 
tuary which  could  be  claimed  on  land.  Valbue,  in 
great  fury,  declared  that  the  law  of  refuge  did  not  apply 
to  swine,  to  Jews,  and  to  Huguenots.  He  rushed  upon 
Lanoix,  and  struck  him  twice  in  the  face.  Lanoix 
stabbed  the  captain  in  the  arm.  Thereupon  the  whole 
crew,  excepting  Jean  Bart  and  a  sailor  named  Sauret, 
threw  themselves  upon  him  at  the  captain's  command,  and 
bore  him  down,  but  not  before  the  doomed  Protestant  had 
killed  one  of  them  with  his  knife. 

"  Bring  me  the  book,"  shouted  the  captain  ;  and  the 
cabin  boy  fetched  the  code  of  Oleron. 

"  Read  me  this  law,"  demanded  Valbue"  of  Sauret,  put- 
ting finger  on  the  clause  meant. 

"I  will  not  read  it,"  answered  Sauret,  disgusted  and 
indignant. 

"  You  are  not  acting  according  to  law,"  continued  Sau- 
ret. "  That  unfortunate  man  "  (Lanoix)  "  is  entitled  to 
three  meals  at  which  he  may  confess  his  fault ;  he  is  also 
entitled  to  make  his  oath  of  excuse  and  his  promise  of 
future  obedience." 

"  Hush  your  mouth,"  shouted  Valbue.  "  Being  a  here- 
tic, he  is  entitled  to  none  of  these  rights." 

"  Listen  !  "  continued  Valbue,  whose  method  of  proce- 
dure was,  in  truth,  diabolically  regular  and  correct.  " '  The 
sailor  who  raises  his  hand  against  his  captain  shall  be  fast- 
ened to  the  mast  by  a  knife,  and  he  shall  be  compelled  to 


xxxni  SOME   NAVAL   HEROES  641 

loose  his  hand  from  the  knife  in  such  a  way  that  he  shall 
lose  at  least  half  his  hand.' ' 

"  Fetch  me  my  sword,"  cried  Valbue  ;  and  the  cabin 
boy  trotted  briskly  down  and  got  it. 

Valbue  lashed  the  razor-like  blade  to  the  windlass,  edge 
upwards,  and  then  lashed  Lanoix's  arm  to  the  blade. 

"  Lanoix,  withdraw  your  arm  as  the  law  directs,"  con- 
tinued the  captain. 

The  wretched  victim  hesitated,  and  Valbue  dashed 
upon  him,  caught  him  by  the  throat,  and  pressed  him 
backwards.  The  arm  being  pulled  against  the  naked 
steel  was  cut  to  the  bone  from  wrist  to  elbow. 

"  Unlash  the  prisoner,"  said  Valbue,  and  Lanoix  fell  to 
the  deck,  weak  and  bleeding. 

"  Bring  me  the  body  of  Simon  Larret,"  commands  Val- 
bue'. This  was  the  sailor  Lanoix  had  killed. 

"  Listen  to  the  law  !  "  again  thunders  the  captain. 

" '  If  any  sailor  kills  a  messmate,  the  living  man  shall  be 
lashed  to  the  dead,  and  both  shall  be  cast  into  the  sea.' ' 

"  Did  Martin  Lanoix  kill  Simon  Larret  ?  "  asks  Valbue 
of  his  crew. 

"  Yes,"  answer  six,  trying  the  question  of  fact  only. 

"  No,"  answer  young  Jean  Bart  and  old  Sauret,  trying 
the  merit  of  the  case  in  their  minds,  and  not  the  facts 
only. 

"  Six  against  two  ;  the  majority  rules,"  decides  Valbue". 
"  Carry  out  the  law  !  " 

And  the  two  men,  one  dead  and  the  other  alive,  are 
cast  into  the  vast  cemetery  of  the  sea,  to  be  known  no 
more  until  the  Last  Day,  when  the  Valbues  of  all  times 
and  all  countries  shall  meet  their  victims,  face  to  face,  in 
the  light  of  the  eyes  of  the  Eternal  God. 


642  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

That  same  evening  the  ship  reached  Calais,  and  Jean 
Bart,  as  well  as  Sauret,  left  it  forever. 

A  very  regular  man  Valbue  was  ;  he  at  once  made  his 
report  of  these  incidents  to  his  superior  officer.  This 
gentleman,  the  Sieur  de  Infreville,  was  so  much  moved  by 
the  atrocity  of  the  occurrence  that  he  reported  the  facts 
to  Colbert,  the  great  minister  of  Louis  XIV.  And  Col- 
bert, having  also  a  human  heart  in  him,  submitted  to 
Louis  a  scheme  of  reform  in  the  maritime  laws,  and  used 
the  murder  of  Lanoix  as  an  example  of  the  barbarity  of 
the  existing  code. 

From  this  movement  of  Colbert's  grew  the  Maritime 
Code  of  France. 

We  hear  no  more  of  Valbue.  He  doubtless  lived  to 
reach  a  good  old  age,  and  died  peacefully  in  his  bed,  for 
he  seems  to  have  been  a  very  parlous  brute. 

The  intendant  to  whom  Valbue's  report  had  been  made 
conceived  a  good  opinion  of  Jean  Bart,  on  account  of  his 
opposition  to  the  murder  of  Lanoix,  and  a  few  days  later 
he  gave  to  the  young  sailor  his  first  commission  — to  convey 
some  French  cavaliers  of  distinction  across  the  Channel  to 
the  Dutch  fleet  which  was  blockading  the  English  in  the 
Thames.  The  mission  was  one  of  peril,  and  Jean  Bart 
made  it  vastly  more  perilous  by  taking  it  into  his  head  to 
reconnoitre  the  enemy,  and  ascertain  their  numbers  and 
position,  so  that  his  report  might  be  valuable  to  the  Dutch 
admiral,  the  famous  De  Ruyter. 

The  venture  was  successfully  made,  however,  and  Jean 
Bart  and  Sauret,  having  come  in  full  view  of  the  English 
fleet  and  obtained  the  information  they  sought,  made 
sail  for  the  Dutch  vessels,  and  landed  the  cavaliers  safely 
on  board. 


SOME   NAVAL  HEROES  643 

De  Ruyter  was  much  pleased  with  the  information  the 
young  sailor  brought  him,  and  he  agreed  to  take  Jean 
Bart  and  Sauret  into  his  service. 

During  five  years  he  remained  with  the  Dutch,  but 
when  war  broke  out  between  them  and  France  (1672)  he 
at  once  returned  to  France. 

In  1674  he  commanded  a  coasting-lugger  carrying  two 
guns  and  a  crew  of  thirty-six.  He  did  some  gallant  deeds 
with  this  tub,  and  became  a  topic  of  conversation  in  his 
native  town.  During  his  first  year  the  bold  corsair,  with 
his  two-gun  lugger,  captured  ten  vessels,  one  of  them 
being  a  Dutch  brig  of  ten  guns. 

He  was  soon  in  command  of  a  brigantine  carrying  ten 
guns,  with  which  he  captured  a  Dutch  ship  laden  with 
gold-dust,  ivory,  and  other  pleasant  things.  At  another 
time  he  came  upon  two  Dutch  ships  convoying  a  fleet  of 
fifteen  fishing-smacks  into  harbour.  Our  respectable  pi- 
rate swooped  down  upon  this  insufficiently  protected  com- 
pany and  captured  the  whole  squadron. 

It  was  time  Jean  Bart  took  another  step  upward,  and 
we  next  find  him  in  command  of  a  frigate  of  twenty-four 
guns,  with  a  crew  of  150  men.  By  this  time  he  is  the 
hero  of  Dunkirk,  the  terror  of  the  seas  adjacent,  and  is 
beginning  to  be  a  national  figure. 

With  his  frigate,  our  brave  corsair  adds  further  to  his 
fame  and  to  his  riches.  He  fights  some  desperate  battles, 
leads  his  crew,  sword  in  hand,  to  board  the  opposing  ves- 
sels, and  proves  himself  the  toughest  sea-lion  that  France 
has  yet  produced. 

Even  Louis,  the  Grand  Monarch,  condescended  to  hear 
of  Jean  Bart  and  to  approve  of  his  exploits.  France  has 
ever  been  weak  on  her  naval  side,  and  it  pleased  Colbert 


644  THE    STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

and  the  king  to  make  much  of  the  corsairs  and  of  the 
hero  they  had  developed  ;  consequently  Louis  sent  Jean 
Bart  a  fine  gold  chain  as  a  token  of  royal  favour. 

Year  after  year  Jean  Bart  sailed  the  seas,  fighting, 
triumphing,  and  patiently  gathering  up  treasures  on  earth 
after  the  manner  of  thrifty  persons.  In  1679  Colbert 
ventured  to  make  him  a  lieutenant  in  the  royal  navy. 
After  a  while  he  was  sent  with  two  ships  to  bombard  the 
Barbary  pirates,  and  with  his  accustomed  coolness  the 
French  pirate  hammered  the  Algerines  in  such  unmerci- 
ful style  that  the  Mediterranean  was  free  from  them  for 
many  years. 

In  1689  he  commanded  two  ships  and  fought  the  Dutch 
and  English,  beating  them  in  every  fight. 

Had  Louis  been  great  enough  to  recognize  the  genius 
of  Jean  Bart  and  to  give  him  a  fleet  while  he  was  still 
young,  France  might  possibly  have  been  mistress  of  the 
seas  instead  of  England  ;  but  there  was  too  much  preju- 
dice at  court  against  this  "  vulgar  sailor,"  and  two  ships 
were  all  they  would  spare  him. 

In  1694  sixty  French  ships  laden  with  grain  were 
captured  by  the  Dutch.  Jean  Bart  flew  to  the  rescue, 
beat  the  Dutch  in  a  great  battle,  and  victoriously  convoyed 
the  grain-ships  homewards  ;  thus  perhaps  saving  France 
from  famine,  for  she  needed  grain  sorely  at  the  time. 

So  great  was  the  public  joy  that  bells  rang,  bonfires 
blazed,  processions  marched,  and  public  thanks  were 
tendered  the  victors.  Louis  XIV.  caused  gold  medals  to 
be  struck  commemorating  the  event. 

In  addition  to  the  medal  inscribed  with  his  name,  Jean 
Bart  was  given  a  patent  of  nobility  by  the  king  and  an 
annual  pension  of  50,000  livres. 


xxxin  SOME  NAVAL  HEROES  645 

His  young  son  was  made  ensign  in  the  royal  navy. 

Louis  XIV.  in  his  august  condescension  invited  Jean 
Bart  to  visit  him  at  Versailles.  From  royalty  an  invita- 
tion is  a  command  and  Jean  Bart  obeyed. 

Fancy  this  sturdy,  square-built,  black-eyed  sailor,  clad 
plainly,  his  face  darkened  by  exposure  and  seamed  with 
the  scars  of  battle,  —  fancy  this  man  moving  among  the 
curled  courtiers  of  Versailles  !  How  the  spoilt  pages  at 
the  doors  must  have  sneered  at  Jean  Bart's  heavy  tread, 
his  coarse  hands,  the  lurch  of  his  sailor's  stride  !  How 
my  Lord  of  Frogwallow  and  the  Duke  of  Battercakes 
must  have  winked  to  the  Marquis  of  Poodle-Doodle  as 
they  noted  the  appalling  fact  that  Jean  Bart  did  not  wear 
the  proper  thing  in  laces,  nor  the  latest  elegance  in  wigs, 
nor  the  choicest  tint  in  ribbons  ! 

Jean  Bart  kneels  at  the  feet  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  kisses 
the  royal  hand.  Let  us  hope  that  the  brave  sailor  felt  no 
actual  reverence  for  this  sham  and  humbug  royalty. 

The  king  looked  upon  the  sailor  with  something  like 
respect.  "•  Jean  Bart,  I  would  that  I  had  10,000  men  like 
thee,"  said  Louis. 

"  I  can  well  believe  it,  Sire,"  replied  the  ex-pirate,  as 
bold  as  ever.  All  strong  men  know  their  value. 

At  the  age  of  fifty-two,  Jean  Bart  was  made  commo- 
dore, and  commissioned  to  prepare  a  squadron  for  service 
in  the  English  Channel. 

Exposure  to  the  weather,  in  getting  his  fleet  ready, 
brought  on  pleurisy,  and  the  doctors  were  called  in  to 
cure  him.  They  bled  him  and  blistered  him  until  all  his 
strength  was  gone  and  he  died  ;  killed  by  ignorant  physi- 
cians, just  as  Philip  the  Good  had  been  killed  200  years 
before  and  as  Washington  was  killed  100  years  later. 

2N 


546  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

The  crown  of  Spain,  descending  from  Charles  the 
Great  to  his  son  Philip  II.,  and  from  Philip  to  successors 
who  grew  weaker  as  the  line  of  descent  lengthened,  now 
A-D-  (1700)  rested  upon  the  head  of  Charles  II.,  a  supersti- 
tious idiot.  The  halo  of  divine  right  never  consecrated  a 
more  unattractive  person.  He  was  bald,  he  was  paralyzed, 
he  was  epileptic,  and  he  was  impotent.  In  1696,  Stan- 
hope, the  English  minister  at  Madrid,  writes  :  "  He  has 
a  ravenous  stomach,  and  swallows  all  he  eats  whole,  for 
his  nether  jaw  stands  so  much  out  that  his  two  rows  of 
teeth  cannot  meet."  His  general  appearance  was  that 
of  a  drivelling  imbecile. 

So  great  was  his  ignorance  that  he  did  not  know  the 
names  of  the  large  towns  of  his  own  dominions.  During 
the  war  with  France  he  was  heard  to  pity  England  for  los- 
ing cities  which  in  fact  belonged  to  himself  as  king  of  Spain. 

He  lived  in  constant  terror  of  evil  spirits,  devils,  ghostly 
apparitions,  and  other  similar  fancies  of  a  disordered 
brain.  Of  course  he  was  a  tool  in  the  hands  of  the 
priests.  Two  of  them  slept  in  his  room  every  night  for 
the  purpose  of  guarding  the  poor  invalid  from  the  attacks 
of  Satan.  His  marriage  had  naturally  remained  childless. 
In  1700  it  became  evident  that  his  life  would  soon  come 
to  a  close,  and  the  all-important  question  in  diplomatic 
circles  was,  who  should  inherit  the  crown  of  Spain  and  its 
immense  colonial  possessions. 

Louis  of  France  wanted  the  dying  idiot  to  make  a  will 
conveying  the  Spanish  realms  to  the  Duke  of  Anjou, 
grandson  of  Louis.  On  the  other  hand,  Leopold,  em- 
peror of  Germany,  wished  the  crown  bequeathed  to  a 
prince  of  the  House  of  Austria. 

The  court  of   Spain  became  the  scene  of  the  liveliest 


xxxin  SOME  NAVAL  HEROES  647 

intrigue  and  contention  between  the  rival  candidates  for 
the  imperial  legacy.  Bribes  were  lavished  here  and  there 
among  influential  grandees  of  both  sexes,  belonging  to 
the  Spanish  court  ;  and  priests,  some  of  whom  had  been 
bought  by  Louis,  and  some  by  Leopold,  worked  the  super- 
natural machinery  until  the  superstitious  Charles  II.  found 
himself  beleaguered  by  a  formidable  array  of  devils  — 
Austrian  and  French.  The  Austrian  devils  warned  him 
against  making  a  will  in  favour  of  France.  The  French 
devils  menaced  him  with  the  perils  of  leaving  the  legacy  to 
Austria. 

Finally,  on  October  2,  1700,  the  dying  king,  by  solemn 
will  and  testament,  conveyed  to  the  French  candidate 
all  the  possessions  of  the  crown  of  Spain.  By  a  few 
scratches  of  the  pen  an  empire  in  Italy,  in  the  Nether- 
lands, in  North  and  South  America,  in  the  islands  of 
the  Spanish  Main,  and  in  Spain  itself,  —  including  men, 
women,  and  children,  lands,  houses,  and  cattle,  —  was 
transfered  by  a  dotard  to  a  beardless  boy  of  a  foreign 
race.  Not  to  any  person  concerned  in  the  transaction 
did  it  occur  that  the  people  of  the  territories  devised 
had  any  right  to  object  to  being  transfered  from  the 
ownership  of  one  king  to  that  of  another. 

On  November  9,  1700,  Charles  II.  died.  Louis  XIV. 
formally  consented  to  the  acceptance  of  the  Spanish 
crown  by  his  grandson ;  and  the  young  man,  under 
the  title  of  Philip  V.,  took  possession  of  his  vast  inheri- 
tance, —  the  greatest,  perhaps,  that  ever  fell  to  any  mortal 
by  virtue  of  a  will.  Castile,  Aragon,  the  Two  Sicilies, 
Peru,  Mexico,  the  West  Indies,  Milan,  Flanders,  were 
all  embraced  in  this  astounding  legacy.  And  nowhere, 
either  in  the  New  World  or  the  Old,  did  the  people 


548  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

make  any  protest  to  the  exercise  of  the  royal  right  to 
tranfer  them  to  a  new  master  by  a  few  words  scratched 
upon  paper. 

But  the  princes  of  Europe  were  deeply  stirred. 
Louis  XIV.,  in  scheming  to  secure  this  legacy  for  his 
grandson,  had  violated  his  word,  twice  pledged.  In 
two  separate  treaties,  a  division  of  the  Spanish  posses- 
sions had  been  agreed  on  between  William  of  Orange, 
Louis  XIV.,  the  emperor,  and  other  princes  concerned 
—  for  it  had  long  been  apparent  that  Charles  II.  would 
leave  no  heir. 

In  seizing  the  whole  inheritance  for  his  grandson,  Louis 
had  broken  faith,  and  all  Europe  was  alarmed  at  this 
tremendous  enlargement  of  French  influence. 
A.D.  William  of  Orange  bitterly  denounced  the  breach  of 
contract,  and  another  coalition  against  France  was  or- 
ganized. 

To  make  matters  worse,  Louis  promised  James  II.,  as 
that  unfortunate  exile  lay  dying  in  Paris,  to  recognize 
his  sou  as  rightful  king  of  England.  To  this  purpose 
Madame  de  Maintenon  and  the  Jesuits  had  cunningly 
schemed. 

This  acknowledgment  of  the  Stuart  Pretender  was  not 
only  a  violation  of  the  Treaty  of  Ryswick,  but  was  a 
deadly  insult  to  William  of  Orange  and  to  the  English 
people.  It  was  monstrous  that  a  king  of  France  should 
arrogate  to  himself  the  right  to  decide  who  should  be 
ruler  of  England;  and  the  English  resented  it  —  just 
as  France  in  later  times  resented  England's  dictation  as 
to  who  should  be  ruler  of  France. 

Louis  XIV.,  in  his  headlong  folly,  expelled  the  Dutch 
garrison  from  the  frontier  towns  in  the  Netherlands. 


xxxm  SOME  NAVAL  HEROES  549 

The  Dutch  naturally  inferred  that  Louis  meant  to  annex 
Flanders,  and,  dreading  the  consequences  of  another 
general  war,  they  proposed  to  him  a  plan  of  settlement 
of  the  troubles  pending,  but  he  rejected  it,  refusing  to 
concede  anything. 

He  would  not  even  oblige  his  grandson  to  sign  an 
agreement  renouncing  his  rights  of  inheritance  to  the 
crown  of  France,  although  the  will  of  Charles  II.  had 
expressly  provided  that  this  should  be  done,  in  order  to 
prevent  the  danger  of  both  crowns  being  the  property  of 
the  same  person  at  the  same  time. 

A  general  war,  known  as  the  war  of  the  Spanish  sue-    A.T>. 
cession,  ensued,  all  Europe  being  in  arms  against  Spain   ] 
and  France.     Spain  had  no  troops  and  no  money.     She 
was  therefore  a  burden  to  France  rather  than  a  help. 
The  Dukes  of  Savoy  and  Modena,  and  the  Elector  of 
Bavaria  were  allies  of  Louis,  but  their  aid  counted  for 
little  or  nothing. 

From  1701    to   1711  the  struggle  went  on  in   Spain, 
Italy,    Germany,   and    the    Netherlands.      At    first    the 
French  held  their   own,  but   in  1704   Marlborough   and 
Prince  Eugene   gained  the  battle  of  Blenheim,  and  the 
tide  of  success  turned  strongly  against  Louis.     On  that    A.D. 
disastrous   day  a  marshal  of   France   and  11,000  of  his   1704 
men  were  taken  prisoners  on  the  field.     No  such  calamity 
had  befallen   France   since  the  capture  of  Francis  I.  at 
Pavia. 

In  1706  the  French  defeat  at  Ramillies  was  followed 
by  the  loss  of  the  greater  part  of  Spanish  Flanders. 
While  Marlborough  was  thus  advancing  victoriously  in 
the  Netherlands,  Prince  Eugene  drove  the  French  out  of 
Italy  and  invaded  the  southern  provinces  of  France. 


650  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE 


A.D. 


Marlborough   again  beat   the  French  in  the  battle  of 

1708 

Oudenarde.  Alsace,  French  Flanders,  and  Artois  were 
invaded  by  the  allies. 

In  1708  Marlborough  gained  the  hard-fought  field  of 
Malplaquet,  and  Lille,  Ghent,  Mons,  Bouchain,  and  other 
frontier  towns  were  lost  to  France.  "  On  to  Paris,"  was 
now  the  cry  of  the  allies,  and  a  party  of  Dutch  actually 
penetrated  as  far  as  the  neighbourhood  of  Versailles  —  the 
sacred  precincts  of  French  royalty. 

Louis  XIV.,  thoroughly  humbled,  sued  for  peace,  offer- 
ing concessions  very  humiliating  to  himself.  The  allies 
were  intoxicated  by  their  success,  and  Marlborough  was 
making  huge  profits  out  of  the  war,  consequently  Louis' 
overtures  were  rejected. 

The  courageous  old  monarch  rose  to  the  occasion.  He 
had  offered  to  surrender  all  that  the  allies  had  claimed, 
and  to  assist  in  compelling  his  grandson  to  relinquish  the 
crown  of  Spain.  Time  and  again  he  had  urged  that 
young  monarch  to  save  France  from  further  loss  by  re- 
signing, but  Philip  V.,  intent  upon  remaining  a  king, 
viewed  French  losses,  incurred  in  his  behalf,  with  consid- 
erable philosophy,  and  candidly  assured  his  grandfather 
that  he  had  no  notion  of  resigning. 

The  allies  rejected  Louis'  offer  to  aid  them  in  expel- 
ling this  ungrateful  grandson,  and  insisted  that  he  himself 
must  make  war  upon  Philip,  and  oust  him.  Louis  had 
set  up  this  upstart  king,  and  it  was  therefore  Louis'  busi- 
ness to  pull  him  down.  But  here  the  Grand  Monarch 
halted  in  his  concessions.  He  wanted  Philip  ousted,  was 
willing  to  help  oust  him,  but  did  not  wish  to  go  to  war 
with  him  single-handed.  "If  I  must  fight,  I  will  fight 
my  enemies  rather  than  my  own  children,"  said  he,  with 


xxxin  SOME   NAVAL  HEROES  651 

commendable  spirit.  The  French  nation  rallied  to  the 
old  monarch,  and  the  war  continued.  The  Duke  of 
Vendome,  grandson  of  Henry  IV.,  gained  two  much- 
needed  victories  in  Spain  against  the  allies,  and  the 
French  suddenly  took  heart  again.  A  turn  in  English 
politics  threw  the  friends  of  Marlborough  out  of  power. 
His  enemies  were  jealous  of  his  fame  and  his  rapidly 
accumulating  fortune,  and  peace  negotiations  were  set 
on  foot.  Had  the  coalition  lasted,  and  had  Marlborough 
and  Prince  Eugene  been  left  to  press  their  advantages, 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  Paris  itself  would  have 
fallen,  and  that  France  would  have  drained  then  the  bit- 
ter cup  which  was  reserved  for  later  times.  Voluntarily 
the  allies  granted  Louis  better  terms  than  he  expected. 
As  it  was,  they  were  hard  enough. 

By  the  terms  of  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  France  lost 
Newfoundland  and  the  Hudson  Bay  country,  which  were 
ceded  to  England.  She  also  gave  up  to  England  the  mo- 
nopoly of  the  slave-trade. 

The  Dutch  gained  the  frontier  towns  which  had  been 
so  long  in  dispute.  Louis  was  also  compelled  to  dis- 
mantle the  fortifications  of  Dunkirk,  and  to  expel  from 
France  the  Stuart  claimant  of  the  English  throne,  besides 
agreeing  to  release  from  prison  the  Protestant  victims  of 
religious  persecution. 

By  this  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  England  gained  from  Spain 
Gibraltar  and  Minorca,  acquisitions  of  vast  importance. 
Austria  took  from  Spain  Milan,  Naples,  Sardinia,  and  the 
Spanish  Low  Countries,  while  the  Duke  of  Savoy  got 
Sicily. 

Thus,  in  order  to  put  the  crown  of  Spain  upon  the  head 
of  his  thankless  grandson,  Louis  XIV.  had  cursed  the. 


552  THE   STORY  OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

French  people  with  the  horrors  of  nine  years  of  war,  had 
caused  the  destruction  of  millions  of  property  and  thou- 
sands of  lives,  had  led  his  own  fortunes  to  the  very  brink 
of  ruin,  had  tasted  the  bitterness  of  defeat  and  humiliation, 
and  had  only  reaped  the  barren  reward  that  Philip  V.  still 
remained  king  of  dismembered  Spain. 

By  his  unwise  policy  Louis  had  drained  French  re- 
sources until  the  kingdom  was  well-nigh  desperate,  and 
loud  cries  of  popular  dissatisfaction  were  even  heard  in 
the  streets  of  Versailles.  But  this  was  not  all.  He  had 
again  built  up  the  House  of  Austria ;  he  had  made  Eng- 
land the  mistress  of  the  seas  and  of  the  trade  of  the 
world,  and  had  put  the  keys  of  the  Mediterranean  into 
her  hands.  He  had  ceded  to  her  immense  colonial  terri- 
tories in  North  America,  and  had  thus  taken  the  first 
great  step  in  the  retreat  which  France  was  to  make  before 
the  ever  increasing  demands  of  Great  Britain.  Of  all 
his  mad  enterprises,  this  last  war  was  the  most  fatal,  for 
it  crippled  France,  while  it  strengthened  the  rivals  from 
whom  she  had  most  to  fear. 

It  is  made  a  reproach  to  the  reign  of  Louis  XV.  that 
incompetent  courtiers  were  placed  in  command  of  the 
armies  which  were  sent  against  such  warriors  as  Fred- 
erick the  Great.  The  reproach  is  well  deserved,  but 
Louis  XV.  did  not  originate  the  practice. 

Under  Louis  XIV.,  the  army  which  met  Marlborough 
at  Oudenarde  was  under  the  command  of  the  Duke  of 
Burgundy,  the  beardless  grandson  of  the  French  king, 
a  boy  who  knew  nothing  about  military  affairs.  It  is 
true  that  the  Duke  of  Vendome,  a  dissolute,  lazy,  but 
able  commander,  was  second  in  command  and  was  ex- 
pected to  keep  the  young  duke  well  advised,  but  the 


xxxin  SOME  NAVAL  HEROES  663 

beardless  boy  was  really  the  chief  of  the  army,  and, 
listening  to  the  courtiers  who  had  his  ear,  he  refused  to 
be  guided  by  Vendome.  The  result  was  as  disastrous  as 
anything  which  happened  under  Louis  XV.  Vendome 
gave  battle  to  Marlborough,  relying  upon  the  young  duke 
to  do  his  share  of  the  fighting.  The  Duke  of  Burgundy 
did  nothing  of  the  kind.  He  kept  himself  carefully  out  of 
danger  while  Marlborough  was  hammering  the  life  out  of 
Vendome's  divisions. 

The  odium  of  the  defeat  fell  wholly  upon  Vendome, 
since  no  one  dared  to  accuse  the  king's  grandson  of 
having  acted  the  dolt  or  the  coward. 

Vendome  remained  at  court  in  disgrace  and  without 
employment  until  the  king  of  Spain  asked  that  he  should 
be  sent  to  lead  the  demoralized  Spaniards  against  the  vic- 
torious Austrians  and  English.  The  brave  old  soldier 
promptly  answered  the  call  of  duty,  set  out  upon  what 
proved  to  be  his  last  campaign,  took  charge  of  the  Spanish 
forces,  captured  the  English  force  and  its  commander, 
Stanhope,  routed  the  Austrians  at  Villa  Viciosa,  and 
made  secure  to  Louis'  grandson  the  long-contested  throne 
of  Spain.  By  this  brilliant  service  Vendome  not  only 
rescued  Spain  from  foreign  invasion,  but  he  so  completely 
altered  the  general  aspect  of  the  war  that  the  allies 
hastened  to  grant  Louis  terms  which  previously  had  been 
out  of  his  reach. 

The  fact  that  Vendome's  victory  of  Villa  Viciosa  saved 
France  as  well  as  Spain  in  this  war,  just  as  his  successful 
siege  of  Barcelona  had  strengthened  Louis  at  a  critical 
time  in  the  former  one,  affords  ample  ground  for  believ- 
ing that,  had  a  callow  youth  not  been  put  over  him  at 
Oudenarde,  that  battle  might  have  ended  very  differently. 


664  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

But  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  was  not  the  only  imbecile 
whom  Louis  placed  in  command  of  the  armies  of  France. 

His  son,  the  dauphin,  had  been  geueral-in-chief  in  the 
Low  Countries.  The  young  man  had  seen  no  service  ;  he 
had  shown  no  capacity  in  that  line  nor  in  any  other.  He 
never  did  show  any  capacity  in  that  line,  or  in  any  other. 
He  died  without  having  left  any  record  of  himself  except 
that  he  attracted  some  attention  as  a  tireless  hunter  of 
wolves  in  the  royal  forests. 

Apart  from  this  shadowy  claim  to  individuality,  it  does 
not  appear  that  he  was  entitled  to  any  other  distinction 
than  that  of  being  the  only  legitimate  son  of  his  father. 
The  one  essentially  useful  thing  he  ever  did,  even  from  the 
point  of  view  of  royalty,  was  that  he,  in  turn,  begat  a  le- 
gitimate son,  and  thus  kept  the  blood-royal  in  the  proper 
channel.  Beyond  that  he  was  swallowed  up  in  the  blaze 
of  his  father's  glory. 

He  commanded  the  army  because  his  father  told  him 
to  command  it,  and  he  did  it  the  best  he  knew  how. 
He  galloped  every  morning  to  the  outposts  to  see  that 
they  were  still  there  ;  then  he  galloped  back  to  his 
tent  to  write  the  cheering  news  to  his  father,  and  to 
ask  for  further  orders.  The  courier  having  been  duly 
despatched  with  the  message,  the  dauphin  sat  down  to  a 
game  of  cards,  trusting  any  other  military  trifle  that 
might  need  attention  to  Marshal  Luxembourg. 

The  armies  of  France  were  in  no  serious  danger  from 
the  dauphin  as  long  as  Luxembourg  was  present  to  direct 
his  feeble  superior  ;  but  Luxembourg  died  after  a  while, 
and  the  dauphin  returned  to  court  to  adore  his  father 
and  to  hunt  wolves.  Petticoat  influence  and  court  favour- 
itism put  Villeroi  in  command  of  the  army.  He  knew 


xxxin  SOME  NAVAL   HEROES  555 

nothing  of  war,  and  was  not  capable  of  learning  ;  he  was 
therefore  beaten  and  battered  out  of  all  shape,  and  brought 
the  French  troops  to  the  plane  of  demoralization  which 
they  reached  again  in  the  next  reign  under  the  leadership 
of  such  courtiers  as  Soubise. 

Historians  dwell  upon  the  manner  in  which  Louis  XV. 
was  governed  by  women  and  priests. 

That  he  was  so  governed  is  true,  —  but  the  Grand 
Monarch  was  governed  also  by  the  same  combination. 
Women  and  priests  knew  his  real  character,  its  weakness 
and  its  strength,  its  impatience  of  restraint,  its  greed 
for  adulation,  its  colossal  vanity  and  egotism. 

It  was  Madame  de  Maintenon  and  the  Jesuits  who  led 
him  into  the  path  of  persecution.  They  appealed  to  his 
vanity,  and  represented  to  him  the  glory  of  the  achieve- 
ment if  he  could  bring  all  his  subjects  back  into  the  old 
faith.  He  would  be  the  hero  of  the  Church.  Time  and 
eternity  would  sing  his  praises. 

Then  they  played  to  another  trait  of  his  character. 
The  Catholic  religion  was  his  religion.  He  was  the 
State,  and  therefore  the  Catholic  religion  was  the  religion 
of  the  State.  To  be  a  scoffer  at  the  king's  religion  was 
to  be  wanting  in  obedience.  It  smacked  of  defiance  of  the 
royal  will  and  pleasure.  It  was  rebellion  in  embryo. 

We  have  already  seen  that  upon  no  point  was  Louis 
more  sensitive  than  upon  this.  A  more  exacting  despot 
never  lived,  when  the  question  concerned  his  dignity, 
authority,  or  power.  We  have  already  seen  that  neither 
king  nor  Pope  might  safely  withhold  any  privilege,  pre- 
rogative, or  mark  of  respect  which  Louis  conceived  to  be 
his  of  right. 

It   can   readily  be   imagined   that   the   Huguenots  of 


666  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

France  would  thus  incur  deadly  peril  if  the  Jesuits,  and 
their  tool,  the  Maintenon,  could  poison  Louis'  mind  with 
the  idea  that  the  religious  attitude  of  the  Protestants  was 
disrespectful  and  disloyal  to  the  king.  That  the  rev- 
ocation of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  was  connected  in  some 
way  with  the  secret  marriage  of  Louis  to  Madame  de 
Maintenon  seems  certain. 

This  woman  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  those 
feminine  diplomatists  who  have  controlled  the  destinies 
of  nations. 

She  was  a  Huguenot  by  birth,  the  daughter  of  a  D'Au- 
bigne.  In  her  youth  her  poverty  was  extreme ;  she  did 
menial  service  for  her  aunt,  and  looked  forward  to  life  in 
a  convent  as  the  highest  for  which  she  might  hope.  Her 
beauty  and  her  charm  of  manner  and  of  conversation  at- 
tracted friends. 

The  paralytic  poet,  Scarron,  heard  of  her,  offered  to 
make  her  his  wife,  and  she  accepted  him.  With  Scarron 
she  lived  in  an  atmosphere  of  fun,  frolic,  scepticism,  and 
immorality.  Her  husband  was  a  shrewd,  jolly  creature 
who  knew  that  he  should  drive  away  his  friends  if  he 
complained  of  his  afflictions,  so  he  jested  and  laughed, 
encouraged  his  company  to  forget  everything  but  his  wit, 
and  thus  bravely  bore  his  cross  until  the  end.  His  last 
words  are  very  touching:  "At  length  I  shall  be  well." 

The  death  of  her  husband  plunged  Madame  Scarron 
again  into  poverty,  and  she  struggled  along  for  some 
years  partly  supported  by  a  small  pension  granted  her 
by  the  queen.  Although  St.  Simon  asserts  positively 
that  she  became  the  mistress  of  several  noblemen,  she 
was  generally  considered  a  model  of  discretion,  —  so 
much  so  that  Madame  de  Montespan,  the  king's  acknow- 


xxxiii  SOME  NAVAL   HEROES  $67 

ledged  mistress,  who  had  known  her  when  she  was  Scar- 
ron's  wife,  selected  her  to  be  at  the  head  of  the  separate 
establishment  given  to  the  Due  de  Maine,  the  Montespan's 
eldest  son,  by  Louis  XIV. 

The  demure  widow  managed  affairs  with  such  tact  and 
wisdom  and  patience,  that  Louis,  in  course  of  time,  became 
fonder  of  the  governess  than  he  was  of  the  mother.  He 
desired  the  widow  for  his  mistress  and  she  declined  the 
honour.  This  was  a  novelty  in  the  royal  experience,  and 
its  effect  was  to  enhance  the  value  of  the  widow  in  his 
esteem. 

The  widow  Scarron,  or,  as  she  had  now  been  made  by 
gift  of  the  king,  Madame  de  Maintenon,  was  one  of  the 
most  devout  of  women.  She  had  become  a  Catholic,  and 
had  developed  the  proverbial  zeal  of  the  apostate.  She 
was  narrow,  bigoted,  intolerant,  and  superstitious.  Above 
all,  she  was  most  devoted  to  her  confessor.  She  and  the 
priest  were  in  absolute  harmony. 

Here  then  we  have  the  elements  of  a  drama. 

A  lustful  king  who  has  never  met  with  opposition  in  his 
various  love-affairs,  is  attracted  by  a  fascinating  widow  who 
repulses  him — but  does  it  gently  ;  a  widow  who  is  dazzled 
by  the  prospects  opened  to  her  by  royal  favour,  but  who, 
being  forty-eight  years  of  age,  is  old  enough  to  know  the 
value  of  virtue;  artful  priests  who  have  the  ear  of  both  the 
king  and  the  widow,  and  who  are  desperately  intent  upon 
stamping  out  heresy. 

These  may  be  no  more  than  coincidences ;  but  the  re- 
sults which  followed  give  plausibility  to  the  supposition 
that  the  Jesuits  connived  at  a  secret  marriage  between 
the  widow  and  the  king,  upon  the  condition  that  she  would 
exert  her  all-powerful  influence  against  the  Huguenots. 


558  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

At  any  rate,  it  is  undeniable  that  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon  was  for  thirty  years  obedient  to  the  will  of  the 
priests,  and  that  the  gloom  and  the  persecution  of  the 
king's  later  years  are  largely  chargeable  to  her  ;  for  almost 
immediately  after  their  marriage  Louis  revoked  the  Edict 
of  Nantes,  and  the  horrors  of  religious  persecution  were 
inaugurated.  In  all  history,  there  is  not  a  record  more 
painful  to  read  than  that  which  relates  the  hideous  bar- 
barities which  frenzied  mobs,  hounded  on  by  fanatical 
priests,  and  sanctioned  by  bigoted  officials  of  the  State, 
inflicted  upon  the  Protestants  of  France.  Brutal  sol- 
diers were  thrown  into  the  hunt  to  add  their  bestiali- 
ties to  the  carnival  of  crime.  Daughters  were  violated 
and  wives  were  ravished.  Many  a  victim  was  stripped 
naked,  slashed  with  knives,  stuck  full  of  pins,  the  nose 
wrenched  away  with  red-hot  pincers,  nails  pulled  off  the 
fingers,  the  feet  burnt  with  hot  irons  —  all  to  further 
conversion  to  the  state  Church. 

In  the  orgy  of  barbarous  cruelty  and  fanaticism  France 
lost  a  million  of  her  industrious  citizens,  sent  away  into 
other  lands  the  trade  secrets  which  were  then  hers  alone, 
filled  the  armies  of  her  enemies  with  desperate  refugees 
who  fought  her  to  the  death,  and  well-nigh  paralyzed  all 
branches  of  her  commerce. 

Surely  Louis  XV.  never  paid  any  such  price  for  his 
Pompadour  and  Du  Barry  as  Louis  XIV.  paid  for  his 
Maintenon. 

Louis  XV.  is  justly  reproached  for  having  gone  to  war 
with  Frederick  of  Prussia  because  that  monarch  had 
spoken  disdainfully  of  the  Pompadour.  But  it  seems 
equally  clear  that  Louis  XIV.  went  to  war  with  all 
Europe  because  he  and  Louvois  had  a  dispute  about  the 


xxxin  SOME   NAVAL  HEROES  659 

size  of  a  window.  The  story  goes  that  Louis  detected  a 
want  of  correspondence  in  the  size  of  two  windows  in  the 
palace  of  Versailles,  then  in  course  of  construction.  He 
called  the  attention  of  Louvois  to  this  defect.  Louvois 
denied  the  discrepancy.  This  angered  the  king,  and  to 
settle  the  question,  the  window  was  measured.  The 
defect  existed.  Louvois  retreated  abashed,  filled  with 
uneasiness.  The  king's  loss  of  favour  might  follow, — 
and  then  one  might  as  well  be  dead. 

"I  must  get  up  a  war  to  divert  his  attention,  and  to 
make  me  necessary  to  him,"  said  Louvois,  he  being  the  ac- 
knowledged greatest  of  war  ministers. 

So  Louvois  fanned  the  fire  in  the  Cologne  electorate 
squabble,  and  saw  to  it  that  the  flames  of  war  mounted 
high.  The  king's  mind  became  very  sufficiently  occu- 
pied, his  great  War  Minister  was  indispensable,  the  win- 
dow wrangle  was  forgotten. 

So  the  story  goes.  Perhaps  there  is  no  truth  in  it,  but 
it  is  as  well  supported  by  evidence  as  the  story  that  Louis 
XV.  involved  France  in  ruinous  war  because  of  Pompa- 
dour's resentment  against  Frederick  for  a  gibe  of  his. 

The  indifference  of  Louis  XV.  to  the  sufferings  of  the 
people  has  been  condemned  ;  but  I  do  not  find  that  any 
tale  of  woe  ever  touched  the  feelings  of  Louis  XIV., 
unless  the  trouble  was  within  his  immediate  circle.  He 
had  no  breadth  of  sympathy,  no  paternal  solicitude  for 
the  people  in  mass. 

When  it  is  reported  to  him  that  the  people  of  Dauphiny, 
in  1675,  are  reduced  to  a  diet  of  acorns,  roots,  grass,  and 
bark,  he  does  not  retrench  his  expenditures,  lower  the 
taxes,  or  send  relief.  He  leaves  nature  to  take  care  of 
the  case.  In  1682  it  is  officially  reported  that  in  Poitou 


660  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

the  people  have  been  without  bread  for  two  years.  In 
1692,  70,000  persons  in  Limoges  are  living  on  chestnuts 
and  alms.  In  Normandy  (1693)  the  peasants  were  dying 
of  hunger  ;  provision  trains  were  attacked  and  plundered 
by  starving  men  and  women,  who  are  in  such  wretched 
plight  that  they  have  almost  lost  the  likeness  of  human 
beings. 

None  of  these  reports  gave  Louis  XIV.  any  sorrow  ; 
none  of  them  provoked  remedial  legislation;  none  of  them 
caused  taxes  to  be  reduced  or  the  court  expenditures 
lowered.  The  people  might  scuffle  along  as  best  they 
could  on  chestnuts,  acorns,  roots,  grass,  and  alms,  —  but 
to  the  Grand  Monarch  no  hint  of  self-denial  must  ever  be 
made. 

All  the  property  of  all  the  people  is  his.  He  has 
thought  so,  the  doctors  of  divinity  have  so  decided,  and 
his  confessor  confirms  the  belief.  Wherefore,  let  his 
subjects  be  thankful  that  he  does  not  take  all  that  they 
have,  it  all  being  his. 

There  must  be  no  lack  of  splendour  at  the  court,  no 
matter  how  they  starve  in  the  provinces.  Versailles  must 
blaze  with  diamonds,  blossom  with  silks,  resound  with 
music,  and  reek  with  the  odour  of  lamps  of  incense  burning 
night  and  day  before  the  great  king.  There  must  be 
plays  and  operas  three  times  a  week.  There  must  be  a 
ball  every  Saturday.  In  one  room  of  the  palace  musicians 
must  always  be  playing  for  those  who  love  music;  in 
another  for  those  who  will  dance.  Gaming  tables  are 
kept  in  perpetual  readiness  for  those  who  will  gamble. 

Refreshments  of  food  and  wine  must  be  ready  at  all 
hours,  night  and  day. 

And  there  must  be  f^tes  and  carousals  in  the  park, 


xxxm  SOME  NAVAL  HEROES  661 

jousts  and  tourneys,  gay  gondola  parties  on  the  grand 
canal,  masked  balls  within  the  palace,  and  brilliant  fes- 
tivities at  every  marriage  or  other  notable  felicity  in  the 
charmed  circle  of  the  privileged. 

"  This  is  enchanted  ground,"  says  Royalty,  "  and  Want 
shall  not  intrude  its  hungry  features  here."  "Let  us  eat, 
drink,  and  be  merry  —  how  it  fares  with  the  balance  of 
you  we  neither  know  nor  care." 

And  the  king,  having  said  this,  —  not  in  words,  but  in 
deeds,  —  struts  grandly  in  to  his  dinner,  to  the  music  of 
twenty-four  fiddles.  Not  a  single  fiddler  will  our  Grand 
Monarch  dispense  with,  no  matter  what  may  be  the  con- 
dition of  his  people. 

The  primary  cause  which  brought  on  the  Revolution  of 
1789  was  the  Public  Debt  and  the  Deficit.  This  Public 
Debt  and  this  Deficit  were  two  of  the  heirlooms  which  the 
Grand  Monarch  handed  down  to  his  hapless  successors. 
He  spent  the  money  and  they  had  the  bills  to  meet. 
They  could  not  pay  the  debt,  nor  the  interest  upon  it, 
and  the  French  Monarchy  went  down  under  the  accu- 
mulated burden  of  misrule,  feeble  administration,  unjust 
laws,  and  a  bankrupt  treasury,  —  all  of  which  troubles 
Louis  XIV.  had  majestically  transmitted  to  his  feeble 
descendants. 

So  profound  was  the  self-esteem  in  which  this  prepos- 
terous egotist  lapped  himself,  that  even  the  supple  knees 
of  professional  courtiers  were  severely  taxed.  A  new 
language  of  adoration  had  to  be  invented.  The  most 
extravagant  expressions  of  admiration  grew  to  be  com- 
monplace, and  the  talent  of  self-abasement  was  reduced  to 
a  fine  art  by  the  demands  made  upon  it  by  the  colossal 
vanity  of  this  pompous  despot. 

2o 


662  THE   STOKY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

One  courtier,  who  had  been  banished  for  a  time,  said 
to  the  king  on  his  return  :  "  When  banished  from  your 
Majesty,  one  is  not  only  unhappy,  but  is  ridiculous." 

Another  courtier  erected  a  monument  in  Paris  upon 
which  Louis  XIV.  was  represented  as  leading  all  the 
nations  of  Europe  in  chains. 

When  the  statue  of  the  king  was  dedicated  in  the  Place 
of  Victories  at  Paris,  the  governor  of  the  city,  accompanied 
by  all  the  officials  and  civic  bodies,  solemnly  marched 
around  it  in  state,  and  prostrated  themselves  before  it  in 
true  barbaric  style. 

We  exemplars  of  Christian  civilization  are  the  most 
puzzling  of  human  creatures.  We  cannot  tolerate  heathen 
rites,  performed  by  the  heathen ;  we  exterminate  the 
heathen,  but  we  perpetuate  his  rites.  Both  in  Church 
and  State  we  constantly  do  what  the  pagans  did.  We 
worship  as  gods  those  whom  we  revere  as  saints  or  heroes 
—  those  who  are  better  than  we  are,  or  those  who  are 
stronger  than  we  are. 

At  Poitiers  a  statue  of  the  king  was  erected,  and  its  in- 
scriptions declared  that  Louis  was  the  arbiter  of  war  and 
peace,  an  immortal  hero,  and  the  joy  of  the  world.  The 
orator  of  the  occasion,  at  the  unveiling  of  the  statue,  drew 
a  comparison  between  Louis  and  God,  in  which  the  advan- 
tage was  rather  grudgingly  yielded  to  God.  The  king  was 
much  pleased  with  the  address  and  appointed  the  speaker 
a  member  of  the  Academy. 

So  far  was  this  spirit  of  deification  carried  that  the  cour- 
tier, passing  through  the  royal  bedchamber,  would  make 
a  deep  bow  to  the  bed  ;  and  a  similar  reverence  before  the 
aigrette,  —  the  silver  vessel  in  which  the  king's  napkins 
and  knife  and  fork  were  kept. 


SOME   NAVAL   HEROES  663 

Louis  XIV.  to  the  Frenchman  of  his  day  represented 
God  on  earth  in  political  affairs,  just  as  the  Pope  repre- 
sented Him  in  spiritual  affairs. 

The  mystic  halo  of  the  doctrine  of  "  Divine  Right " 
sanctified  and  elevated  him  as  a  man  apart  from  other 
men  —  infinitely  higher,  stronger,  wiser.  Had  he  not 
been  anointed  with  the  sacred  oil  brought  from  heaven  by 
a  dove  ?  The  Church  said  so  ;  the  State  said  so  ;  it  were 
treason  to  doubt  it.  No  good  Catholic  did  doubt  it.  Or 
if  he  did,  had  no  remarks  to  make. 

Did  he  not  perform  miraculous  cures,  by  virtue  of  the 
divine  grace  imparted  to  him,  by  simply  touching  the 
afflicted,  as  Christ  touched  them  ?  Church  and  State 
both  said  he  did,  and  the  afflicted  crowded  forward  to  be 
touched  and  miraculously  healed. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

DEATH  OF  THE  GRAND  MONARCH,  AND  SKETCH  OF 
THE  ANCIEN  REGIME 

T?OR  seventy  odd  years  Louis  has  lived  and  reigned,  but 
now  the  end  draws  nigh.     Not  all  the  divinity  that 
doth  hedge  a  king  can  intimidate  that  remorseless  con- 
queror called  Old  Age. 

The  household  troops  may  parade,  the  bugles  blare,  the 

fiddles   ring,   the   fountains   play,   the  gardens   blossom, 

A-D-    the  courtiers  bow  and  scrape,  fawn  and  flatter,  but  Louis 

bends  beneath  the  burden  of  the  years,  and  spiders  weave 

betwixt  him  and  the  sun. 

He  has  the  grandest  palace  in  all  the  world,  set  down 
amidst  the  loveliest  gardens,  fountains,  and  park.  His 
treasury  had  been  exhausted  in  rearing  this  marble 
abode,  in  creating  this  sylvan  paradise.  It  has  cost 
France  very  dearly,  this  Versailles.  In  money  it  cost 
$150,000,000,  and  nobody  knows  how  many  lives ;  for 
when  the  soldiers  were  set  to  work  to  drain  marshes  and 
cut  canals  for  its  water-supply,  they  died  like  flies,  and  the 
dead  were  carted  off  each  night  to  their  nameless  graves. 

And  when  at  last  the  formal  walks  had  all  been  laid, 
and  the  noble  trees  from  Fontainebleau  transplanted  in 
regular  order,  the  parterres  created,  the  hedges  set,  and 
the  fountains  put  in  motion,  Louis  had  asked  his  Montes- 
pan  if  the  work  was  not  perfect. 

564 


xxxiv  DEATH   OF  THE   GRAND   MONARCH  565 

"It  only  needs  a  snowfall,  so  that  we  could  sleigh-ride 
along  the  grand  avenues  in  the  glorious  park,"  answered 
the  woman. 

Louis  said  nothing,  but  that  night  the  avenues  of  the 
park  for  miles  were  covered  with  snowy  salt  and  sugar, 
and  the  king's  harlot,  in  company  with  the  king  and  the 
gorgeous  miscellany  of  the  court,  went  sleighing  over 
the  whitened  roads,  the  bells  jingling  silvery  music,  and 
the  favourites  jingling  light  chatter  and  lighter  laughter 
as  they  whirled  along. 

That  was  many  years  ago.  The  king  was  young  then, 
and  so  was  the  Montespan. 

His  youth  has  long  since  left  him,  and  his  Montespan, 
after  he  grew  tired  of  her,  he  put  aside.  She  has  been 
dead  these  many  years. 

In  his  vast  palace  Louis  now  awaits  the  end.  He  has 
lost  children,  friends,  glory.  The  only  human  being  who 
ever  loved  him,  Louise  de  la  Valliere,  died  heartbroken  in 
a  convent  years  ago,  driven  from  the  court  by  the  intrigues 
of  more  mercenary  rivals.  He  has  lost  his  illusions.  He 
knows  how  little  he  now  counts  for  in  the  great  world. 
He  knows  that  sporting  men  in  Holland  and  elsewhere 
are  laying  bets  as  to  his  living  out  the  year,  just  as 
they  would  bet  on  the  speed  of  a  horse  or  the  turn 
of  a  card. 

He  knows  that  Time  has  disfigured  his  person,  and  he 
rouges  his  cheek,  pads  his  clothing,  and  hides  his  swelling 
ankles  and  legs. 

Very  lonely  must  Louis  have  felt,  for  he  knew  that  the 
people  already  hated  his  name,  wished  his  death,  and 
would  curse  his  memory.  He  knew  that  the  courtiers 
longed  for  a  new  reign,  and  for  the  gayety  and  license 


566  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

which  the  old  monarch  and  his  priests  had  suppressed 
during  these  later  years. 

By  the  side  of  the  aged  king  sits  his  Maintenon,  a 
wrinkled  but  sensible  old  woman  of  eighty  years.  She 
governs  the  king,  and  an  old  Jesuit  priest  governs  her. 

What  a  picture  it  is  !  All  France  has  been  drained  in 
this  direction  for  three  generations.  All  the  power,  all 
the  privilege,  all  the  culture,  all  the  revenues,  have  been 
drawn  to  the  king  and  his  court  as  far  as  law  could 
effect  it. 

Here  is  the  worn-out  monarch  waiting  for  the  knock  of 
him  who  knocks  at  the  door  of  the  palace  and  of  the  hut, 
callously  impartial ;  and  around  that  dying  king  goes  on 
the  same  comedy  of  human  greed  which  marks  the  death 
of  the  merest  chattel-owning  peasant,  jj 

By  right  of  birth  and  precedent,  Louis,  Duke  of  Or- 
leans, nephew  of  the  king,  is  entitled  to  the  regency 
during  the  minority  of  Louis  XV. 

But  the  Duke  of  Maine,  bastard  son  of  Louis  XIV.  by 
the  Montespan,  wants  the  regency  for  himself,  and  the 
Maintenon  sides  with  him. 

Thus  the  dying  king  is  beset  by  a  domestic  intrigue, 
and  sees  no  peace.  The  royal  family  is  bent  upon  forcing 
him  to  make  a  will  favourable  to  the  Duke  of  Maine.  They 
tease  and  torment  the  feeble  monarch,  pout  at  him,  urge 
him,  assail  him  with  tears  and  persuasions,  until  he  is 
fairly  beaten.  To  secure  peace,  to  enjoy  the  smiles  of 
his  own  family  circle  again,  he  makes  the  will,  warning 
them,  however,  that  it  will  not  be  respected  after  his 
death. 

All  his  life  Louis  had  been  acting  a  part.  Everything 
he  did  was  done  according  to  fixed  and  inexorable  rule. 


xxxiv  DEATH  OF  THE   GKAND  MONARCH  567 

He  was  formal,  conventional,  studied  in  look,  in  word,  in 
gesture,  in  act.  One  who  had  seen  him  take  wine  at 
thirty  years  of  age  could  safely  swear  to  the  exact  manner 
in  which  he  would  take  wine  at  the  age  of  sixty.  The 
weather  being  the  same,  one  could  make  affidavit  to  the 
precise  hour  when  Louis,  cane  in  hand,  could  be  seen 
strutting  impressively  along  the  avenues  of  the  park  of 
Versailles.  At  the  same  time  every  day  the  king  took 
his  meals,  his  walks,  held  his  receptions,  his  councils, 
his  levees,  had  his  evening  amusements,  and  went  to 
bed. 

Always  and  everywhere  he  was  an  actor,  —  acting  the 
part  of  a  great  king.  So  morbid  was  his  fondness  for  the 
theatrical  side  of  his  great  office  that  his  courtiers  played 
upon  it  boldly  and  successfully.  They  even  amused  the 
old  man  with  sham  embassies,  and  his  insane  vanity  was 
immensely  gratified  at  the  fulsome  flatteries  which  ap- 
peared to  come  from  the  most  distant  quarters  of  the 
globe,  when  in  fact  they  were  composed  by  the  courtiers 
at  Versailles. 

A  few  days  before  Louis  died  he  was  regaled  by  a  sham 
embassy  from  Persia.  The  dying  monarch  arrayed  him- 
self in  all  his  splendour,  blazed  in  regal  lustre  from  a 
gorgeous  throne,  listened  to  a  pompous  address  from  a 
pretended  Persian  ambassador,  and  retired  exhausted,  but 
pleased  — never  suspecting  the  fraud,  and  never  to  appear 
in  public  on  a  state  occasion  again. 

In  the  article  of  death  Louis  was  true  to  himself.  He 
died  as  a  great  king  should  die.  We  cannot  say  that  he 
rehearsed  the  part,  as  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  did,  but 
no  man  ever  died  more  correctly,  composedly,  and  im- 
pressively. 


568  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

He  showed  decent  regret  for  past  errors,  but  no  abject 
contrition ;  he  admitted  just  enough  error  to  show  that 
he  consented  to  be  considered  human. 

He  accepted  all  the  consolations  of  the  Church,  accord- 
ing to  rule. 

He  called  in  his  family,  and  made  appropriate  speeches 
to  them.  He  sent  for  his  successor,  the  little  Louis  XV., 
who  was  five  years  old,  and  made  him  a  speech,  which 
the  boy  could  not  have  understood. 

And  then  he  turned  to  his  faithful  Maintenon,  and 
spoke  of  their  meeting  in  the  next  world,  and  regretted 
that  he  had  not  made  her  happier  in  this. 

A.D.  Having  thus  in  the  most  correct  manner  made  his  bow 
to  the  world,  the  old  man  fell  to  praying  to  his  God, 
and  so  died. 

Madame  de  Maintenon,  the  unacknowledged  wife  and 
unacknowledged  widow,  left  the  palace  before  her  hus- 
band had  breathed  his  last.  The  courtiers  wished  her 
away.  She  retired  to  St.  Cyr,  a  convent  she  had  founded, 
and  there  she  spent  the  remainder  of  her  life  in  devotion 
and  good  works. 

In  1717,  Peter  the  Great,  sojourning  in  France,  went 
to  visit  so  celebrated  a  woman.  He  found  her  in  bed. 

Pulling  the  curtains  aside,  Peter  looked  at  her  long 
and  earnestly. 

"Of  what  disease  do  you  suffer?"  asked  he. 

"  Of  old  age,"  she  answered. 

He  silently  drew  the  curtains  together,  and  departed. 

She  died  in  1719,  aged  eighty-three. 

Before  quitting  Louis  XIV.,  let  us  see  just  what  his 
system  of  government  was. 

It  has  already  been  said  that  he  inherited  this  system 


xxxiv  DEATH  OF  THE   GRAND  MONARCH  569 

from  his  ancestors,  and  their  ministers.  From  Richelieu, 
particularly,  he  derived  the  principle  he  put  into  practice. 
For  seventy  years  the  governmental  machine  was  devel- 
oped and  perfected,  and  when  Louis  XIV.  died,  the 
ANCIEN  REGIME  was  complete. 

What  was  the  Ancien  Regime  ? 

In  matters  political,  all  power  was  concentrated  in  the 
king.  He,  personally,  was  the  government.  He,  in 
theory,  was  the  proprietor  of  France.  Her  property  was 
his.  The  taxes  simply  represented  the  proportion  of  his 
own  which  he  was  pleased  to  exact.  In  theory  he  could 
take  it  all  if  he  wished. 

There  was  no  legislature.  No  lawmaking  body  inter- 
vened between  him  and  his  subjects.  His  will  was  law. 
His  decrees  were  statutes.  The  only  formality  required 
was  that  the  Parliament  of  Paris  should  register  them 
on  its  records.  And  the  Parliament  registered  whenever 
the  king  wished  it. 

The  king  made  war  and  peace,  contracted  foreign 
alliances,  coined  money,  and  regulated  commerce.  The 
king  raised  armies,  and  disbanded  them  ;  imposed  taxes, 
created  offices,  and  suspended  laws.  Even  in  local  affairs, 
he  alone  was  master. 

In  every  department  he  had  his  intendant,  or  overseer ; 
and  this  royal  intendant  rode  over  local  councils  and 
local  lords,  subjecting  all  local  authority  to  the  king's 
authority.  The  nobility  saw  itself  reduced  to  political 
impotence,  all  power  being  centralized  in  the  person  of 
the  king. 

The  king  then  was  supreme  over  nobles  and  people, 
but  the  nobles  still  enjoyed  privileges  which  lifted  them 
unmeasurably  above  the  people. 


570  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

They  paid  almost  none  of  the  taxes.  The  ch&teau  of 
the  noble,  and  the  land  around  it,  his  woods,  meadows, 
vineyards,  ponds,  and  pleasure  grounds  could  not  be  sold 
for  taxes.  Of  the  income  and  capitation  tax,  he  paid 
a  part,  but  his  influence  with  the  authorities  was  so  great 
that  his  payments  were  little  more  than  nominal. 

For  instance,  the  princes  of  the  blood  held  two-twentieths 
of  the  national  property,  and  were  assessed  for  that  pro- 
portion of  taxes.  They  should  therefore  have  paid 
2,400,000  livres  of  the  annual  taxes.  The  amount  they 
did  pay  was  but  188,000. 

Only  a  noble  could  hunt  and  kill  game,  fish,  or  keep 
a  dove-cote.  Only  a  noble  could  rise  in  the  army,  or  in 
the  higher  offices  of  the  Church.  To  the  noble,  after  the 
king,  belonged  the  power  of  wringing  taxes  from  the 
people.  The  noble  collected  bridge  duties,  market 
duties,  first  fruits  of  the  wine  crop,  dues  for  the  oven,  the 
mill,  the  wine-press. 

In  his  immediate  councils,  where  he  wanted  effective 
service  and  implicit  obedience,  the  king  rarely  employed 
nobles.  It  was  not  his  policy  to  encourage  the  growth  of 
political  power  in  the  nobles,  as  compared  to  the  power  of 
the  crown.  Therefore  commoners,  who  would  be  entirely 
dependent  upon  the  royal  favour,  were  appointed  to  the 
councils  and  to  the  position  of  intendant. 

The  people  paid  the  king's  taxes  and  the  lord's  dues, 
and  got  no  accounting  from  either.  None  of  the  taxes 
wrung  from  the  people  were  spent  on  the  people.  The 
king  and  the  nobles  spent  it  as  they  pleased.  None  of  it 
was  expended  in  public  education  for  the  commoners, 
none  of  it  in  improvements  beneficial  to  the  masses.  The 
money  wrung  from  a  peasant  by  the  sale  of  his  pots  and 


xxxiv  DEATH  OF  THE   GRAND  MONARCH  671 

ploughs  was  spent  in  aimless  luxury  at  Versailles.  Tillers 
of  the  soil  famished  while  300  cooks  baked,  broiled, 
stewed,  and  fricasseed  to  feast  the  4000  parasites,  courte- 
sans, and  place-hunters  who  infested  the  royal  palace. 
Artisans  hungered  for  bread  in  every  street  in  the  cities 
of  France,  while  3000  horses  stood  in  the  king's  stables  eat- 
ing their  heads  off.  Thousands  of  acres  of  the  best  land 
in  France  were  being  deserted  because  the  burdens  of  feu- 
dal dues  and  royal  taxes  had  literally  crushed  hope  and 
effort,  while  the  fickle  taste  of  the  king  was  pouring 
millions  of  treasure  into  the  new  palaces  and  grounds  of 
Versailles  and  Marly,  and  was  squandering  other  mil- 
lions in  paying  the  gambling  debts  of  loose  women  and 
rakish  men. 

What  the  king  was  doing  at  Versailles  and  Marly  the 
nobles  were  doing  upon  a  smaller  scale  at  their  chateaux, 
when  they  could  tear  themselves  away  from  the  court. 

There  were  hundreds  of  great  feudal  castle-palaces 
scattered  about  France,  where  all  the  senseless  extrava- 
gance of  the  king  was  faithfully  imitated,  and  where  the 
horses  lived  in  parlours  and  where  the  peasants  lived  in 
stables,  where  the  dogs  fed  sumptuously  three  times  a 
day,  and  the  serfs  who  worked  the  fields  rarely  got 
enough  black  rye  bread  to  quiet  the  pangs  of  hunger. 

The  immense  privileges  enjoyed  by  the  nobles  had  once 
gone  hand  in  hand  with  duties.  The  lord  of  the  castle 
had  defended  the  land  from  invaders,  shielded  the  peasant 
from  the  robber,  sheltered  him  in  time  of  war,  and  aided 
him  with  tools,  horses,  and  supplies  in  time  of  peace.  In 
those  days  the  noble  was  the  champion.  He  fought  the 
battles  of  his  people.  He  met  the  enemy  on  the  frontier. 
He  went  ever  with  his  armour  on,  his  sword  by  his  side, 


672  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAR 

his  spur  on  his  heel.  His  horse  saddled  in  his  hall  stood 
ready  to  go  at  the  word. 

Protecting  the  soil  and  the  toilers  in  this  valiant  fashion, 
the  noble  acquired  just  rights  over  both,  and  exacted  justly 
a  support  from  those  who  worked  while  he  watched  and 
fought. 

And  as  long  as  the  noble  was  the  champion  of  the 
people  they  paid  him  his  dues  cheerfully,  looked  up  to 
him,  loved  him,  were  ready  to  die  for  him.  When  an  heir 
was  born  to  him  every  hill  on  his  domains  blazed  with  the 
bonfires  of  joy,  —  the  champion  of  the  people  had  an  heir 
who  would  in  turn  be  their  champion ! 

In  like  manner  the  lord  of  the  castle  cleared  the  woods 
of  dangerous  game ;  therefore  he  naturally  became  the 
sole  hunter.  He  alone  could  build  the  bridge  ;  therefore 
he  took  toll.  He  alone  could  afford  the  cost  of  the  oven, 
the  wine-press,  and  the  mill ;  therefore  it  was  not  strange 
that  he  should  bake  for  his  people  and  get  some  of  the 
bread,  grind  for  his  people  and  get  some  of  the  grist, 
crush  the  grapes  and  get  some  of  the  wine. 

Thus  privileges  and  dues  grew  out  of  duties  and  ser- 
vices rendered.  As  long  as  these  duties  were  performed 
or  services  rendered,  no  hardship  was  felt  in  paying 
the  feudal  dues. 

But  when  the  noble  no  longer  watched  or  fought,  no 
longer  performed  any  duties  whatsoever,  or  rendered  the 
people  any  service  at  all,  was  it  right  that  feudal  dues 
should  still  be  exacted  ? 

When  other  mills,  wine-presses,  bridges,  and  ovens  had 
been  established,  was  it  right  to  deny  the  people  the  free- 
dom of  going  to  them  ?  When  the  peasant  wanted  to 
crush  his  few  grains  of  rye  or  wheat  between  two  stones, 


xxxiv  DEATH   OF   THE   GRAND  MONARCH  573 

at  his  own  wretched  hut,  was  it  right  for  the  noble  to 
exact  a  license-fee  for  that  poor  privilege  ? 

Did  the  game-laws  ever  go  to  such  a  pitch  of  insanity 
as  they  reached  under  the  Ancien  Regime,  when  it  was 
made  a  crime  for  a  peasant  to  enclose  his  crop  to  protect 
it  from  the  deer  and  wild  hogs  ?  Such  enclosures  were 
adjudged  to  be  an  interference  with  the  pleasures  of  the 
chase,  were  torn  down,  and  the  owner  punished. 

In  many  parts  of  the  kingdom  he  had  to  watch  his 
orchards,  vineyards,  and  growing  grain,  all  night  as  well 
as  all  day,  to  save  them  from  herds  of  deer  and  droves  of 
wild  hogs.  In  the  parish  of  Vaux  alone,  an  official  re- 
port shows  that  the  rabbits  in  one  season  destroyed  the 
crops  of  7000  acres  of  land.  The  vineyards,  the  or- 
chards, even  the  young  poplars,  were  devoured  by  troops 
of  deer.  In  the  neighbourhood  of  Fontainebleau,  the 
people  had  to  employ  gangs  of  watchmen  to  guard  the 
vines  from  May  until  mid-October. 

Four  hundred  square  leagues  of  territory  in  France 
were  subject  to  the  control  of  the  "  captainries,"  that  is, 
"game  preserves."  In  these  captainries  the  proprietors 
of  the  soil  had  no  right  to  take  or  kill  game.  The  pro- 
prietor of  the  soil,  in  his  mere  character  of  owner,  had  no 
right  to  plant  hedges,  dig  ditches,  or  build  fences,  without 
special  permission.  Such  hedges,  ditches,  and  fences 
tended  to  interfere  with  the  "  pleasures  of  the  chase,"  and 
could  not  be  tolerated.  The  owner  of  the  soil  was  not 
allowed  to  keep  firearms.  He  was  not  even  allowed  to  be 
followed  by  a  dog,  unless  the  dog  was  held  by  a  leash. 
Between  May  1  and  June  24  he  was  not  allowed  to  go 
into  his  own  field  ;  and  he  was  forbidden  to  mow  his 
grass  before  St.  John's  day.  The  reason  was  that  the 


674  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

partridges  are  hatching,  and  he  might  disturb  them,  thus 
interfering  with  my  lord's  "  pleasures  of  the  chase  "  again. 

So  carefully  did  the  law  encourage  or  protect  wild 
animals  at  the  expense  of  the  peasants  that  they  were 
accustomed  to  exclaim,  whenever  they  saw  a  herd  of 
deer,  "Yonder  goes  the  nobility  !  " 

Among  the  nobles  themselves  the  influence  of  the 
Ancien  Regime  was  most  destructive.  It  made  life  hol- 
low and  artificial,  selfish  and  hypocritical.  False  stand- 
ards ruled,  and  the  natural  was  held  to  be  the  vulgar. 

Husbands  and  wives  were  no  longer  faithful  to 
one  another.  Married  couples  were  rarely  seen  to- 
gether. Children  were  almost  strangers  to  their  parents. 
Etiquette  interposed  its  icy  hands  between  mother  and 
daughter,  father  and  son. 

The  nobles  affected  to  disdain  business.  It  was  con- 
sidered aristocratic  to  be  ignorant  of  matters  of  account, 
estate  management,  and  commercial  dealings. 

A  natural  result  was  that  the  nobles  became  bankrupt, 
their  estates  went  to  pieces,  and  the  men  of  the  lower  or- 
ders began  to  accumulate  wealth,  and  to  buy  land  more 
rapidly  than  they  had  ever  done  before. 

Living  in  wasteful  luxury,  spending  always  and  earn- 
ing never,  they  sink  into  poverty.  Huge  debts  encumber 
the  feudal  domains  ;  little  by  little  the  lord  of  the  manor 
sells  off  his  surplus  lands,  and  the  rich  tradesman,  or 
miserly  farmer,  or  thrifty  lawyer  of  the  Third  Estate 
buys  it. 

The  nobles  are  too  proud  to  work.  They  will  endure 
any  privation  rather  than  thus  lower  themselves.  Even 
if  they  were  willing  to  work,  they  would  not  know  how. 
Their  training  and  education  have  utterly  unfitted  them 


xxxiv  DEATH  OF  THE   GRAND  MONARCH  575 

for  any  industrial  pursuit.  They  have  been  taught  how- 
to  bow,  and  when  to  smile;  how  to  give  an  insult  and 
how  to  resent  one;  how  to  lounge  in  the  palace,  glide 
through  the  dance,  languish  on  a  terrace,  sing  in  a  sere- 
nade, ride  in  the  chase,  play  at  the  card-table,  and  fight 
on  the  duelling-ground;  but  they  have  not  been  taught 
anything  which  fits  them  for  the  office,  the  counting- 
room,  or  the  clerk's  desk.  They  can  do  all  the  elegant 
labour  of  polite  society  with  infinite  grace,  but  they  are 
incapable  of  earning  an  honest  penny  in  any  branch  of 
industry. 

Meanwhile  the  middle  class  had  been  growing  rich. 

Colbert  adopted  the  policy  of  protecting  the  manu- 
facturer from  foreign  competition  by  tariff  duties,  his 
purpose  being  to  enrich  the  manufacturer  and  encourage 
him,  by  giving  him  a  monopoly  of  the  home  market. 
Colbert  made  no  pretence  of  legislating  to  benefit  the 
labourer.  With  perfect  frankness  he  declared  his  purpose 
to  be  the  protection  of  French  capital  against  the  com- 
petition of  capital  from  abroad. 

Under  this  protective  system,  which  gave  him  a  mo- 
nopoly, the  manufacturer  of  France  had  become  rich. 
He  now  began  to  buy  land,  and  he  resented  more 
angrily,  every  year,  the  scorn  with  which  the  idle, 
empty-headed,  and  debt-laden  noble  looked  down  upon 
him,  the  successful  man  of  business. 

The  manufacturer  is  not  the  only  man  of  the  middle 
class  who  has  been  prospering.  The  tradesmen  who 
supply  the  careless  and  profligate  nobles  have  been 
earning  immense  profits.  Collusion  between  the  confi- 
dential servants  of  the  palaces,  and  the  people  who 
furnish  supplies  for  their  lordly  masters,  enriches  both 


676  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

the  servants  and  the  tradesmen.  Dealers  in  horses,  in 
wines,  in  silks,  in  jewels,  all  stand  a  chance  of  getting 
rich.  The  pander  flourishes  as  never  before  ;  and  if  king 
or  nobleman  craves  a  mistress  and  none  is  at  hand,  the 
procurer,  being  sufficiently  paid,  will  supply  the  demand. 

The  passion  for  building  brings  wealth  to  architects, 
painters,  sculptors,  and  masons.  The  passion  for  amuse- 
ment showers  money  upon  musicians,  actors,  and  dancers, 
while  the  rage  for  profuse  display  gives  golden  opportu- 
nities to  tailors  and  milliners,  caterers,  cabinet-makers, 
and  carriage-builders. 

It  is  the  halcyon  day  of  the  pilfering  servant.  He 
steals  with  splendid  coolness  and  untiring  energy.  Ac- 
cording to  his  accounts  as  rendered,  a  carriage  costs 
his  royal  master  $6000  ;  one  of  the  royal  ladies  eats 
during  a  year  fish  to  the  value  of  $6000,  while  meat 
and  game  cost  her  $14,000,  and  the  same  princess  burns 
candles  during  the  same  year  to  the  value  of  $12,000. 
The  candles  for  the  queen  cost  $31,000  in  one  year,  the 
king's  lemonade  upwards  of  $400,  and  the  broth  for  one 
of  the  royal  children  $1000,  while  the  king  drinks  coffee, 
tea,  and  chocolate  to  the  value  of  $40,000.  The  bills 
of  the  wine  merchant,  the  furnisher  of  horse-feed,  the 
butcher,  the  baker,  are  all  on  the  same  colossal  scale. 
Not  content  with  stealing  in  collusion  with  the  trades- 
men, the  servants  steal  directly  from  the  stables,  and 
from  the  palace  itself. 

St.  Simon  relates  a  curious  anecdote  of  the  theft  of 
a  lot  of  laces  from  off  the  king's  carriage,  almost  in  his 
very  presence.  Other  authorities  tell  us  that  it  was  a 
regular  thing  for  the  servants  to  sell  dishes  from  the 
king's  table  to  the  people  of  Versailles. 


xxxiv  DEATH  OF  THE  GRAND   MONARCH  677 

One  of  these  rogues  had  the  impudence  to  steal  and 
pocket  a  biscuit  under  the  king's  eyes.  Louis  the 
Grand  was  already  in  a  bad  humour  on  account  of 
another  matter,  and  he  was  so  incensed  with  the  rascally 
servant  who  did  not  have  manners  enough  to  postpone 
the  theft  until  the  monarch's  back  was  turned,  that  he 
lifted  his  cane  and  belaboured  the  said  servant  then  and 
there  until  the  cane  was  broken  in  pieces. 

Somehow  we  warm  to  the  outraged  monarch  as  we 
read  of  this  performance.  It  is  almost  the  only  occa- 
sion where  we  see  etiquette  laid  aside,  and  human 
nature  asserting  its  primary  impulses. 

At  the  court  of  the  king  some  15,000  persons  were 
supported  at  the  public  expense,  absorbing  one-tenth 
of  the  national  revenue.  This  nest  of  harpies  increases 
and  encroaches  until,  under  Louis  XV.,  they  actually 
devour  one-fourth  of  the  income  of  the  State. 

In  the  Church  the  word  duty  was  likewise  sorely 
neglected.  The  clergy  owned  enormous  estates  from 
which  they  drew  princely  revenues.  The  cardinals, 
bishops  and  abbes  were  the  nobility  of  the  ecclesiastical 
order,  while  the  curates  who  did  all  the  work  were  its 
peasants.  The  bishop  dashed  along  the  highway  in  his 
gilded  coach,  and  the  curate  crouched  close  to  the  bank 
to  keep  from  being  trampled  into  the  mud. 

The  curates  and  parish  priests  were  worked  hard, 
shabbily  clad,  ill  fed,  and  wretchedly  housed,  while  the 
princes  of  the  Church  aped  the  princes  of  the  State  and 
lived,  like  them,  in  idleness,  extravagance,  and  dissipation. 

Here  and  there  are  exceptions  to  what  we  have  said  of 
the  nobility  and  the  Church.  In  La  Vendee  and  a  few 
other  places  the  nobles  reside  on  their  estates,  mingle  with 

2  P 


578  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP,  xxxiv 

the  people,  and  retain  their  respect  and  affection.  In  the 
same  province  as  well  as  in  some  other  districts,  the 
Church  remembers  its  mission  and  the  people  are  faith- 
ful to  it.  This  loyalty  of  the  masses  to  their  natural 
leaders  in  those  provinces  where  the  nobles  had  been  loyal 
to  their  duty  was  strikingly  shown  during  the  Revolution 
of  1789. 

The  Ancien  Regime,  then,  was  the  concentration  of  all 
political  power  in  the  hands  of  the  king ;  the  subjection 
of  the  nobles  into  a  servile  band  of  place-hunting  syco- 
phants, and  the  complete  subjection  of  the  masses  of  the 
people,  socially,  politically,  and  religiously. 

Reduced  to  its  last  analysis,  the  system  of  Louis  XIV. 
rested  upon  the  assumption  that  the  kingdom  of  France 
was  an  estate  which  God  had  given  to  the  king  ;  that  the 
nobles  were  the  personal  attendants  necessary  to  his  glory 
and  comfort;  and  that  the  great  mass  of  the  people  were 
the  serfs  whom  God  had  ordained  to  labour  upon  his  estate 
of  France  as  long  as  the  world  should  stand,  and  to  pro- 
duce from  it,  by  their  toil,  an  exhaustless  supply  of  every 
good  thing  needful  to  the  king,  his  nobles,  his  priests,  and 
his  concubines. 


CHAPTER  XXXV 

LOUIS   THE   FOURTEENTH  ;     HIS   COUET  ;     HIS 
ADMINISTRATION 

rPHOSE  to  whom  the  study  of  different  systems  of  gov- 
ernment is  interesting  find  permanent  attraction  in 
the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  Under  his  rule  France  furnished 
a  perfect  example  of  the  absolute  monarchy.  If  to  judge 
a  tree  by  its  fruits  be  a  fair  rule  to  apply  to  states  and  sys- 
tems, the  monarchical  principle  is  on  trial  when  the  age  of 
Louis  XIV.  is  judged,  for  throughout  all  the  departments 
of  administration  the  king's  will  was  law.  No  one  else  had 
the  power  to  propose,  to  decree,  to  direct,  or  to  veto.  No 
power  of  initiative,  of  limitation,  or  of  obstruction  existed. 
What  the  king  said  was  law,  what  the  king  did  was  right. 

It  is  not  just  to  judge  any  system  by  its  results  on  a 
decayed  people,  or  by  its  fruits  under  unfavourable  cir- 
cumstances. In  passing  judgment  upon  the  monarchical 
system  as  exemplified  in  the  person  and  government  of 
Louis  XIV.,  we  give  it  the  advantage  of  unusually  favour- 
able circumstances. 

France  was  not  a  decayed  nation,  her  people  had  been 
kept  in  a  state  of  suppression,  but  the  energy  of  the  State, 
as  shown  in  the  courage  with  which  all  Europe  was  thrice 
resisted,  only  needed  room  for  development. 

Again,  the  local  surroundings  were  most  favourable. 
Monarchies  existed  on  every  side  of  France,  and  the 

679 


680  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Catholic  Church  maintained  the  monarchical  principle 
with  all  its  vast  influence.  The  altar  and  the  throne  sup- 
ported each  other. 

Then,  again,  the  personal  character  of  the  king  gave  to 
the  system  the  last  requisite  to  a  fair  test.  He  was  not 
one  of  those  rulers  whose  bad  habits  or  bad  character  call 
down  odium  upon  the  system  he  represents.  On  the  con- 
trary, Louis  XIV.  may  fairly  be  called  a  model  king.  He 
lived  up  to  his  ideal.  He  was  just  what  the  adorers  of 
absolute  monarchy  wished  him  to  be.  In  his  own  day 
they  reverenced  him  as  the  most  perfect  type  of  the  en- 
lightened, courteous,  and  magnificent  monarch  which 
modern  times  had  produced.  Even  now,  the  pens  of 
royalist  Catholic  authors  are  busy  writing  elaborate  eulo- 
gies of  the  Grand  Monarch ;  and  book  after  book  is 
printed  to  convince  the  world  that  Louis  was  great,  was 
good,  was  a  wise  ruler,  and  a  sincere  Christian  ;  was  gener- 
ous, humane,  enlightened,  progressive,  and  conscientious. 

The  best  and  the  worst  that  the  candid  historian  can 
say  of  Louis  XIV.  is  that  he  and  his  system  were  equally 
good  and  equally  bad.  Heredity,  education,  and  local 
environment  made  him  what  he  was,  —  a  man  of  form  and 
ceremony,  a  slave  to  court  etiquette.  From  the  moment 
he  opened  his  eyes  in  the  morning  till  he  closed  them 
again  at  night,  he  was  held  in  the  remorseless  grip  of  a 
rigid  ceremonial.  His  nightgown  had  to  be  taken  off  in 
pursuance  of  fixed  rule  ;  his  shirt  had  to  be  given  him  by 
the  proper  person  in  the  proper  way  ;  his  hands  had  to  be 
washed  according  to  established  order.  Some  grandees, 
and  not  others,  had  the  high  privilege  of  handing  him  his 
socks.  His  breeches  had  to  be  offered  with  imposing 
formality.  To  give  him  his  wig  or  his  coat  was  a  dis- 


xxxv  LOUIS  THE   FOURTEENTH  581 

tinguished  honour  which  only  a  few  of  the  elect  enjoyed. 
Having  dressed  according  to  etiquette,  Louis  went  about 
the  day's  business  or  pleasure,  still  in  strict  observance  of 
rules.  He  gave  audience  as  the  forms  directed ;  ate,  drank, 
walked,  talked,  rode,  and  hunted,  by  fixed  and  unbending 
precedent.  When  he  went  to  bed  at  night,  the  same 
elaborate  slavery  to  form  pursued  him.  The  man  could 
not  pull  off  his  shirt  without  strictest  obedience  to  estab- 
lished rule.  The  Duke  of  Duck -puddle  contended  eagerly 
with  the  Marquis  of  Bootlick  and  the  Baron  of  Bosh  for 
the  precious  privilege  of  holding  the  candle  while  some 
other  proud  scions  of  the  nobility  pulled  off  the  imperial 
breeches.  Even  after  he  was  in  bed,  the  poor  prisoner  of 
royal  etiquette  could  not  escape  into  privacy.  One  of 
his  attendants  slept  in  the  same  room,  and  the  light 
burned  all  night. 

Thus  we  see  that  Louis  XIV.  was  held  in  the  vise  of 
system.  The  nation  could  not  escape,  nor  could  he.  He 
was  a  part  of  it,  and  was  mastered  by  it,  at  the  same  time 
that  he  played  master  of  it. 

The  king  grew  to  realize  this  fact  himself.  He  built 
Marly  to  have  a  quiet  retreat  wherein  he  could  enjoy  life 
as  a  private  gentleman.  But  the  attempt  was  a  failure. 
The  court  and  its  slavery  of  ceremony  pursued  him. 
He  could  no  more  escape  from  his  faithful  courtiers  and 
parasites  than  a  congress  or  legislature  can  hide  from  the 
lobby. 

Therefore,  we  say  that  Louis  XIV.  and  his  system  must 
be  judged  together.  Louis  XIV.  was  not  the  guilty 
inventor  of  this  system.  He  found  the  machine  already 
made.  From  the  time  of  Philip  the  Handsome,  the 
French  kings  had,  almost  without  exception,  been  travel- 


582  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

ling  toward  absolutism.  Charles  VII.  had  practised  it. 
So  had  Louis  XI.  Under  Francis  I.,  guided  by  Cardinal 
Duprat,  the  royal  will  had  been  the  law  of  the  land.  The 
civil  wars  had  weakened  royal  authority  under  the  last  of 
the  Valois  kings,  but  Henry  IV.  was  a  despiser  of  popu- 
lar rights,  and  was  rapidly  rebuilding  the  shattered  fabric 
of  absolutism  when  he  was  assassinated.  Under  Louis 
XIII.,  Richelieu  had  completely  restored  the  edifice,  and 
when  Louis  XIV.  took  the  reins  from  Mazarin  he  found 
no  obstacles  in  his  way.  Even  before  Mazarin  died,  the 
Parliament  of  Paris  had  been  practically  snuffed  out. 
The  body,  having  been  directed  by  the  cardinal  to  regis- 
ter some  decree  or  other,  refused  to  obey.  The  young 
king,  who  was  only  sixteen,  appeared  before  the  Parlia- 
ment, dressed  for  a  hunt,  booted  and  spurred,  whip  in 
hand,  and  ordered  peremptorily  that  the  decree  in  ques- 
tion should  be  registered  forthwith.  It  was  registered, 
accordingly,  and  the  Parliament  after  that  became  a  law- 
court  only. 

As  to  the  States  General,  it  had  become  obsolete.  No 
governing  body  existed  save  the  king  and  his  ministers. 
The  first  act  of  Louis'  reign  was  to  dispense  with  minis- 
ters. Thus  he  was  in  fact  the  State.  He  legislated, 
he  executed,  he  administered.  He  had  found,  ready  to 
his  hand,  a  complete  mechanism  of  absolute  government. 
His  only  departure  from  the  practice  of  his  predecessor 
was  that  he  determined  to  run  the  machine  for  himself, 
instead  of  letting  ministers  do  it  for  him.  It  being  ad- 
mitted that  Louis  was  a  king  of  considerable  ability,  and 
of  great  industry,  and  one  who  did  his  best  to  live  up  to 
the  duties  of  his  position  as  he  understood  them,  what 
was  the  result,  so  far  as  France  was  concerned  ?  What 


xxxv  LOUIS  THE  FOURTEENTH  583 

were  the  fruits  of  this  splendid,  full-grown  tree  of 
absolutism  ? 

At  the  time  of  Louis'  death  the  public  debt  of  France 
was  2,400,000,000  livres,  —  immensely  larger  than  it  ever 
had  been.  The  revenues  had  been  mortgaged  for  four 
years  ahead,  and  the  royal  treasury  had  paid  as  high  as 
400  per  cent  for  borrowed  money.  New  taxes  had  been 
created  and  the  old  burdens  increased.  Bread  riots  had 
broken  out  in  many  parts  of  the  kingdom,  and  nothing 
but  the  huge  standing  army  kept  down  a  revolt. 

From  the  official  reports  made  to  Louis  XIV.  himself 
by  his  intendants,  we  may  learn  quite  enough  to  con- 
vince us  of  the  extreme  misery  of  the  people. 

In  all  of  them  the  story  is  much  the  same :  "  War, 
disease,  the  quartering  of  the  troops,  forced  labour,  heavy 
duties,  and  the  emigration  of  the  Huguenots  have  ruined 
this  province." 

The  roads  and  bridges  were  in  a  deplorable  condition, 
and  trade  reduced  to  nothing.  The  frontier  provinces 
were  still  further  overwhelmed  by  requisitions  and  by 
marauding  soldiers,  who,  receiving  neither  pay  nor  ra- 
tions, foraged  for  their  wages.  In  the  district  around 
Rouen,  650,000  out  of  the  700,000  inhabitants  had  nothing 
but  straw  to  sleep  on.  The  peasants  in  certain  provinces 
had  lapsed  into  a  savage  state,  living  frequently  on  herbs 
and  roots  like  the  beasts,  and,  being  wild  as  savages, 
would  flee  when  approached. 

The  philosopher  Locke,  who  travelled  in  France  in  1676 
and  1677,  wrote  :  "  The  rent  of  lands  in  France  has  fallen 
one-half  in  these  few  years,  by  reason  of  the  poverty  of 
the  people." 

Sir  William  Temple,  about  the  same  time  says,  "  The 


584  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

French  peasantry  are  wholly  dispirited  by  labour  and 
want."  In  1708,  Addison  writes,  "We  think  that  France 
is  on  her  last  legs." 

Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montagu,  writing  from  Paris,  in 
October,  1718,  says :  "  I  think  nothing  so  terrible  as 
objects  of  misery ;  and  all  the  country  villages  of  France 
show  nothing  else.  While  the  post-horses  are  changed, 
the  whole  town  conies  out  to  beg,  with  such  miserable 
starved  faces,  and  thin,  tattered  clothes,  they  need  no 
other  eloquence  to  convince  one  of  the  wretchedness 
of  their  condition." 

"  I  have  known  in  France  poor  people  to  sell  their 
beds,  and  lie  upon  straw,"  says  Somers  ;  "  sell  their  pots, 
kettles,  and  all  their  necessary  household  goods,  to  con- 
tent the  unmerciful  collector  of  the  king's  taxes." 

In  Burton's  diary  it  is  stated  (1691)  that  there  were 
"  all  the  dismal  indications  of  an  overwhelming  calamity. 
The  fields  were  uncultivated,  the  villages  unpeopled,  the 
houses  dropping  to  decay." 

Dr.  Lister,  who  visited  Paris  in  1698,  says :  "  Such  is 
the  vast  multitude  of  poor  wretches  in  all  parts  of  this 
city,  that  whether  a  person  is  in  a  carriage  or  on  foot,  in 
the  street,  or  even  in  a  shop,  he  is  alike  unable  to  transact 
business,  on  account  of  the  importunities  of  the  beggars." 

It  is  a  tremendous  fact  that  at  the  end  of  the  reign  of 
Louis  XIV.  the  population  of  France  was  less  than  it 
had  been  at  his  accession  seventy-two  years  before,  while 
from  1715,  when  he  died,  to  1785  the  population  in- 
creased thirty-three  per  cent,  and  commerce  five  hundred 
per  cent. 

The  Duke  of  St.  Simon,  as  proud  an  aristocrat  as  ever 
lived,  wrote  his  Memoirs  day  by  day,  as  the  reign  of 


xxxv  LOUIS  THE  FOURTEENTH  585 

Louis  progressed.  He  was  one  of  the  elect.  His  father 
had  been  a  favourite  page  of  Louis'  father,  and  had  been 
made  a  duke  because  he  had,  in  a  flash  of  inspiration,  hit 
upon  a  way  to  get  a  fresh  horse  between  the  royal  legs 
without  compelling  the  royal  feet  to  touch  the  ground. 
Louis  XIII.  was  ravenously  fond  of  hunting  ;  a  change  of 
horses  was  frequently  necessary  ;  the  king  did  not  like 
the  delay  and  the  trouble  of  dismounting  and  remount- 
ing. The  lucky  page  bethinks  him  of  bringing  the  fresh 
horse  alongside  the  jaded  one,  the  head  of  the  one  to  the 
tail  of  the  other,  so  that  the  royal  legs  have  only  to  exe- 
cute a  neat  whirl  from  the  one  saddle  to  the  other  —  no 
delay,  no  trouble,  no  feet  on  ground,  and  on  rushes  the 
royal  huntsman  after  the  antlered  stag. 

Genius  like  that  of  his  page  must  be  rewarded.  The 
hero  of  a  sea-fight  might  die  in  obscurity  and  want ; 
poets,  philosophers,  and  statesmen  might  pine  in  dim, 
squalid  neglect ;  the  king's  own  mother  might  be  shiver- 
ing, a  lonely  exile,  in  the  wretched  garret  in  Cologne — but 
this  page,  having  ministered  to  the  pleasure  of  his  lord, 
must  straightway  be  lifted  into  the  magic  circles  of  privi- 
lege and  favour.  He  is  made  a  duke,  and  lives  long  to 
enjoy  health,  wealth,  and  worldly  honours. 

His  son  married  a  lady  of  noble  birth,  and,  after  a  brief 
service  in  the  army,  he  took  up  his  residence  at  court. 
He  and  his  wife  occupied  grand  apartments  in  the  palace. 
He  wrote  his  Memoirs  while  acting  as  a  favoured  cour- 
tier of  the  king  :  hence  his  pen-pictures  of  passing  events 
are  worthy  of  very  high  consideration. 

Writing  of  the  year  1710,  St.  Simon  says  that  the  dis- 
tress of  the  king  and  the  people  was  extreme.  There 
was  no  money  in  circulation.  The  markets  were  flooded 


586  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

with  due-bills  issued  by  the  king,  the  banks,  and  the 
receivers-general,  —  paper  which  the  government  forced 
its  own  creditors  to  take,  but  which  the  law  did  not  com- 
pel the  people  generally  to  accept  as  legal  tender  in  the 
payment  of  debts.  The  king  also  debased  the  coin,  mak- 
ing out  of  the  same  amount  of  metal  one-third  more 
money.  The  government  rigorously  exacted,  in  coin, 
everything  that  the  people  owed  the  king,  while  the  king 
paid  the  people  with  due-bills  which  were  not  available 
for  more  than  half  their  face  value.  There  was  abun- 
dance of  money  for  the  perfumed  dandies  and  painted 
wantons  who  thronged  the  splendid  galleries  of  Versailles, 
but  there  was  almost  no  pay  at  all  for  the  soldiers  who 
fought  the  battles  of  France,  or  for  the  public  creditors 
who  had  legitimate  demands  against  the  State. 

The  capitation  tax  was  doubled,  then  trebled.  New 
taxes  upon  merchandise  and  provisions  were  imposed. 
Even  baptisms  and  marriages  were  taxed.  Rioting  fol- 
lowed, and  the  resistance  to  the  law  was  so  general,  and 
the  determination  to  evade  it  so  difficult  to  control,  that 
the  tax  was  abandoned. 

But  in  1610  one  of  the  king's  secretaries  proposed  a 
royal  tithe  upon  the  property  of  each  community  and  of 
each  private  person. 

Even  Louis  hesitated  to  put  this  enormity  in  practice. 

He  knew  vaguely  that  France  was  not  so  cheerful  and 
prosperous  as  were  his  pensioners  of  Versailles.  Almost 
under  the  old  monarch's  eyes  mobs  had  formed  —  ragged, 
hungry,  homeless  wretches  —  and  had  made  Versailles 
resound  to  the  ominous  cry  of  "Bread,  bread." 

Letters  threatening  the  life  of  the  king  had  reached 
and  disturbed  him.  Insulting  placards  had  been  posted 


xxxv  LOUIS   THE   FOURTEENTH  587 

in  the  streets  of  Paris  ;  ribald  songs  had  been  sung, 
wiiich  held  up  to  public  scorn  the  sins  of  the  court  and 
king ;  and  upon  two  occasions  Marshal  Boufflers  had  found 
great  difficulty  in  preventing  an  insurrection  aimed  at 
the  Grand  Monarch  himself. 

Hence,  when  the  new  tax  of  the  royal  tenth  was  pro- 
posed, Louis  hesitated.  For  several  days  he  appeared 
melancholy.  Suddenly  he  brightened  and  became  him- 
self again.  The  explanation  he  gave  was  this  :  Finding 
himself  in  doubt  about  this  new  burden  upon  his  peo- 
ple, he  had  unbosomed  himself  to  his  confessor,  Father 
Tellier,  a  Jesuit,  who,  with  consummate  art,  asked  a  few 
days  for  consideration.  He  then  reported  to  the  king 
that  he  had  taken  the  advice  of  the  doctors  of  divinity 
of  the  Sorbonne  upon  the  question,  and  that  they  had 
decided  that  all  the  wealth  of  the  king's  subjects  was  his, 
and  that  when  he  took  it  he  only  took  what  was  his  own. 

His  scruples  having  been  removed  by  this  decision,  the 
king  proceeded  to  enforce  the  collection  of  the  royal 
tenth. 

December  approached,  and  the  king  made  it  known 
that  he  wished  a  gay  season  at  Versailles.  Gay  it 
accordingly  was,  balls,  fetes,  magnificent  displays  and 
entertainments  of  all  sorts  were  had,  and  around  the 
king  shone  the  plenty,  the  pride,  and  the  splendour  of 
the  Privileged  Few. 

But  in  Paris,  and  in  the  provinces,  the  wolves  of 
poverty  hunted  their  prey  through  all  the  lower  walks 
of  life. 

Who  can  wonder  that,  when  this  monstrous  embodi- 
ment of  absolute  selfishness  and  absolute  tyranny  died, 
St.  Simon  should  write  :  — 


588  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

"  The  provinces,  in  despair  at  their  ruin  and  their  anni- 
hilation, breathed  again  and  leaped  for  joy.  The  people, 
ruined,  overwhelmed,  desperate,  gave  thanks  to  God, 
with  scandalous  noise,  for  a  deliverance  their  most  ardent 
wishes  had  not  anticipated." 

The  province  of  Languedoc,  rendered  hopeless  by  such 
heavy  burdens  of  taxation,  offered  to  surrender  all  the 
wealth  of  the  province  to  the  king,  if  he  would  allow  one- 
tenth  of  it  to  be  enjoyed  by  the  owner,  free  from  all 
tax.  He  not  only  rejected  the  proposition,  but  rebuked 
those  who  made  it. 

With  a  refinement  of  tyranny  a  new  tax,  for  the 
express  benefit  of  the  poor,  was  levied.  In  a  short  time 
the  king  appropriated  this  revenue  to  his  own  use,  and 
it  remained  a  regular  source  of  royal  income. 

It  has  been  generally  believed  that  Louis  kept  disaffec- 
tion suppressed  completely.  He  did  not  do  so.  On 
several  occasions  it  required  heavy  battalions  to  prevent 
revolt.  In  Paris  a  mob  released  a  woman  whom  the 
king's  soldiers  had  put  in  the  pillory,  and  the  situation 
seemed  so  critical  that  our  Grand  Monarch  took  no 
steps  to  punish  the  rioters.  He  even  found  it  judicious 
to  give  them  work  and  a  mouthful  to  eat.  His  son's 
carriage  was  surrounded  by  a  throng  of  the  poor  as  he 
was  leaving  the  opera,  and  cries  of  "  Bread,  bread," 
greeted  his  startled  ears.  He  threw  a  handful  of  coin 
among  the  people,  and,  while  they  scrambled  for  it,  the 
prince  made  his  escape. 

After  the  king's  death  it  was  found  that  1,600,000 
francs  were  due  to  the  ambassadors  who  upheld  his 
glory  to  the  admiring  gaze  of  foreigners  ;  not  enough 
had  been  paid  them  of  late  years  to  defray  the  expense 


xxxv  LOUIS  THE  FOURTEENTH  589 

of  posting  their  letters,  and  in  some  instances  they  were 
suffering  for  the  necessaries  of  life. 

Perhaps  no  other  fact  could  be  adduced  which  would 
more  vividly  illustrate  the  prostration  to  which  the 
insatiable  egotism  of  this  absolute  monarch  had  reduced 
a  great  kingdom. 

"  The  will  of  God  is  that  he  who  is  born  a  subject  should 
obey,  and  make  no  question." 

This  amazing  proposition  was  penned  by  Louis  XIV. 
himself  and  it  expressed  his  profound  convictions. 

"  Kings,"  he  writes  further,  "  are  absolute  lords,  and 
have  by  nature  the  tfull  and  free  disposition  of  the  prop- 
erty of  all,  the  property  of  the  Church  and  the  property 
of  the  laity." 

Upon  this  theory  he  acted  all  his  life.  He  spent  the 
money  of  the  State  as  though  it  were  a  revenue  he  derived 
from  his  private  plantation.  Colbert,  who  had  spent  his 
laborious  life  trying  to  reform  the  governmental  system, 
implored  the  king  to  economize.  "  Cut  down  your  build- 
ing expenses  to  3,000,000  livres  per  year,"  equivalent  to 
$3,000,000  now,  "  and  your  other  expenses  to  60,000,000, 
and  I  promise  you  a  full  treasury,"  wrote  Colbert  to  the 
king.  But  the  words  were  wasted.  In  one  year  Louis 
spent  nearly  four  times  $3,000,000  on  his  palace  of 
Versailles  alone. 

When  the  English  drove  away  James  II.  he  was  received 
royally  by  Louis  ;  a  palace  was  supplied  him,  and  all  the 
money  necessary  to  a  large  and  splendid  court. 

So  Mr.  Peasant  of  France  found  himself  supporting  in 
idle  prodigality  two  kings,  two  queens,  and  two  collections 
of  pimps,  parasites,  eminent  vagabonds,  and  insatiable 
place-hunters. 


690  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

No  wonder  the  tax  collector  had  to  sell  Mr.  Peasant's 
pot.  No  wonder  Mr.  Peasant  had  to  eat  herbs  and  roots, 
beg  of  travellers,  and  sleep  on  straw. 

Madame  de  Montespan  gambled  away  4,000,000  livres 
in  one  night.  Every  dollar  of  it  was  dug  out  of  the 
ground  slowly  and  painfully  by  Mr.  Peasant.  The 
gilded  mistress  of  a  most  Christian  king  gamed  away  the 
money  in  the  gorgeous  salons  of  the  palace,  while  Mr. 
Peasant  in  the  midst  of  his  squalid  family  went  to  sleep 
in  his  hovel  to  the  music  of  children  crying  for  something 
to  eat. 

Louis  gave  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  his  grandson,  forty 
purses  of  1000  livres  each  as  pocket-money  when  he  set 
out  for  Spain,  and  he  was  pleased  when  another  grandson 
came  to  him  for  money  to  pay  his  gambling  debts.  He 
told  his  grandson,  paternally,  that  it  made  no  difference 
how  much  men  of  his  quality  lost  —  as,  in  fact,  it  did  not. 
The  people  paid. 

As  to  his  nobility,  the  king  was  most  gracious,  but  most 
exacting.  There  must  be  unlimited  obedience,  loyalty, 
and  deference  to  him  ;  that  much  must  be  understood 
always. 

There  is  no  evidence  that  Louis  ever  pardoned  any  man 
who  questioned  his  infallibility.  The  great  engineer  Vau- 
ban,  who  had  rendered  him  important  and  glorious  service 
all  his  life,  ventured  in  his  old  age  to  suggest  certain  re- 
forms —  ventured  to  hint  that  there  was  too  much  special 
privilege  and  too  much  inequality  in  taxation.  Forth- 
with he  lost  favour,  his  book  was  publicly  burnt  by  order 
of  the  king,  and  the  poor  author,  considering  the  king's 
frown  equivalent  to  the  end  of  the  world,  died  of  a  broken 
heart  six  weeks  afterwards. 


xxxv  LOUIS  THE   FOURTEENTH  591 

But  when  the  courtier  had  rendered  unreserved  homage, 
and  had  shown  to  the  Grand  Monarch's  satisfaction  that 
he  was  considered  the  greatest  of  mortals  and  of  mon- 
archs,  incapable  of  error  in  any  matter  whatsoever,  times 
were  apt  to  be  pleasant  for  the  courtier.  He  received 
place  or  pension,  perhaps  both  ;  he  found  the  king  a 
fairly  indulgent  master,  liberal  in  reward  and  sparing  of 
censure. 

But  the  courtiers,  men  and  women,  must  be  ready  at 
all  times  to  minister  to  the  king's  pleasure.  If  he  wished 
to  hunt,  they  must  follow  the  chase  ;  if  to  travel,  they 
must  be  ready ;  sickness  and  private  business  were  not 
considered  sufficient  excuses  for  their  absence  if  he  ex- 
pected them.  Self-denial  was  no  part  of  his  character. 

Louis  was  fond  of  display  of  every  kind,  and  he  encour- 
aged his  nobles  to  dress  with  splendour,  live  in  luxury, 
and,  by  their  show  of  wealth,  to  add  to  the  brilliancy  of 
his  court.  On  one  occasion  when  he  let  it  be  known  that 
he  would  be  pleased  at  seeing  his  court  in  fine  costumes, 
a  courtier  of  moderate  means  spent  $20,000  for  clothes  for 
himself  and  his  wife.  He  loved  to  have  his  nobles  gam- 
ble, and  to  see  them  make  heavy  bets.  He  constantly 
kept  gaming-tables  ready  for  play  in  his  palace,  and  many 
a  scion  of  nobility  beggared  himself  like  a  gentleman  to 
please  his  king.  "When  this  happened,  the  ruined  game- 
ster usually  committed  suicide,  or  went  into  exile. 

Marshal  Boufflers  once  pleased  the  king  very  much  by 
his  correct  behaviour  at  Compiegne,  where  a  grand  mili- 
tary camp  had  been  formed. 

The  marshal's  hospitalities  exceeded  anything  that  had 
ever  been  known  at  a  camp.  He  kept  his  tables  spread 
at  all  hours  of  the  day  and  night ;  and  every  guest  was 


692  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

welcome,  whether  officer,  courtier,  or  spectator.  French 
and  foreign  wines,  hot  drinks  and  cold,  game,  venison, 
and  fish  of  every  kind  were  supplied  with  inexhaustible 
abundance.  Forty  servants  ministered  to  the  wants  of 
all  who  came  ;  the  king  himself  deigned  to  dine  with  the 
marshal,  and  was  even  good  enough  to  invite  Boufflers  to 
dine  with  him. 

The  marshal,  however,  knew  better  than  to  accept  the 
invitation,  and  insisted  upon  acting  as  a  servant  while  his 
monarch  dined.  This  extravagance  ruined  Boufflers,  and 
many  others  who  kept  the  same  pace. 

Louis  not  only  exacted  unlimited  obedience  from  his 
nobles,  but  he  expected  them  to  attend  him  at  court. 
The  peer  who  lived  on  his  estates  and  never  came  to 
Versailles  enjoyed  no  favour  with  the  king.  "  I  do  not 
know  him,  I  never  see  him  at  my  court,"  were  the  dread- 
ful words  in  which  the  jealous  monarch  would  allude  to 
a  nobleman  who  neglected  to  pay  personal  homage  to  his 
sovereign.  Hence  the  king  drew  everything  to  himself. 
He  centralized  in  his  person  and  in  his  court,  as  well  as  in 
his  authority,  all  the  power,  favour,  privilege,  wealth,  and 
fashion  of  France. 

To  live  on  one's  estate,  away  from  Louis,  was  to  live  out 
of  the  French  world.  To  lose  the  king's  favour  was  to 
lose  the  joy  and  the  brightness  of  life.  If  a  lady  at  court 
incurred  the  monarch's  displeasure  she  took  herself  to  a 
nunnery,  for  the  world  was  dead  to  her  the  moment  Louis 
frowned. 

If  the  same  misfortune  happened  to  a  man,  he  sickened 
and  died.  There  was  nothing  else  to  do.  How  can  the 
French  noble  exist  if  his  king  denies  to  him  the  pleasures 
and  honours  of  Versailles  ?  To  exile  a  courtier  to  his  own 


xxxv  LOUIS   THE   FOURTEENTH  693 

Lome  in  the  country  is  esteemed  a  dreadful  punishment. 
It  humbles  the  stubbornest  offender,  and  he  soon  craves 
pardon,  and  permission  to  come  back  to  Versailles. 

Racine,  having  lost  favour  by  an  unlucky  allusion  to  the 
crippled  poet  Scarron,  whose  beautiful  and  artful  widow 
had  become  the  king's  wife,  feels  that  life  has  no  more 
charms,  and  the  noble  dramatist  goes  off  into  a  corner, 
like  a  poisoned  rat,  mopes,  and  dies. 

Even  Lauzun,  the  maddest  gallant  of  the  whole  lot,  the 
man  who  had  braved  the  Montespan,  broken  his  sword  in 
presence  of  the  king  whom  he  accused  of  breaking  his 
word,  and  who  was  such  an  irreverent  and  insolent  brute 
that  he  said  to  the  Great  Mademoiselle,  who  had  been 
fool  enough  to  marry  him  secretly,  "Louise  of  Bour- 
bon, pull  off  my  boots  "  —  Lauzun,  even,  was  so  com- 
pletely broken  by  his  banishment  from  court  that  he 
came  back  to  Louis'  feet,  fawning,  cringing,  and,  of 
course,  begging  for  some  office. 

Under  such  a  system  as  Louis  exemplified,  life  neces- 
sarily became  artificial,  and  the  standards  of  judgment 
unreliable.  Form,  deportment,  and  appearance,  always 
important,  became  the  one  test  of  excellence.  Grace 
in  dancing,  skill  in  turning  the  phrases  of  flattery,  dig- 
nity of  carriage,  proficiency  in  observing  and  practising 
social  conventionalities  —  these  were  the  accomplishments 
which  speeded  the  courtier  upward  and  onward.  A  stately 
walk,  an  exquisite  bow,  a  smooth  tongue,  did  more  for  the 
ambitious  man  than  the  winning  of  battles,  or  the  faith- 
ful performance  of  routine  duties. 

This  being  so,  it  is  natural  that  we  should  find  the  noble 
lords  and  ladies  of  the  court  attaching  more  importance 
to  matters  of  etiquette  than  to  any  other  earthly  subject. 
2q 


594  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Does  the  Duke  of  Luxembourg,  the  greatest  soldier  of 
France  since  Cond^  and  Turenne,  presume  to  walk  in 
front  of  a  lot  of  titled  nobodies  at  court  ?  Instantly  the 
titled  nobodies  are  up  in  arms,  St.  Simon  himself  halloo- 
ing them  on,  and  leading  the  hunt.  They  snub  the  great 
soldier  in  the  gilded  corridors,  they  do  not  answer  his 
salute,  they  offer  to  accommodate  him  to  a  mortal  combat, 
if  he  so  desires  ;  and,  above  all,  they  furiously  litigate 
against  him  in  the  courts. 

Hundreds  and  hundreds  of  pages  of  St.  Simon's  Me- 
moirs, are  devoted  to  this  petty  dispute.  St.  Simon  most 
sincerely  believed  that  cultivated  people  of  all  nations, 
for  ages  to  come,  would  be  absorbedly  concerned  with  this 
great  controversy  between  the  most  brilliant  soldier  of 
France  and  a  miserable  little  coterie  of  court  nobodies  as 
to  who  should  walk  in  front  —  the  Duke  of  Luxembourg, 
or  the  squad  of  ducal  nonentities.  It  seems  that  Luxem- 
bourg won  the  lawsuit,  —  and  the  ducal  nobodies  avenged 
themselves  by  turning  on  their  heels  "  in  silent  contempt " 
when  next  the  brilliant  soldier  courteously  saluted  them 
at  court. 

If  a  noble  who  had  no  right  to  the  honour  ventured  to 
hold  up  the  cloth  of  the  communion  table  when  Louis 
communicated,  indignant  agitation  stirred  the  court  to 
its  depths.  Before  the  waters  would  subside,  the  pre- 
sumptuous noble  had  to  be  corrected,  and  the  question 
settled.  And  as  no  one  but  him  who  enjoyed  the  un- 
doubted right  thereto  dared  hand  the  king's  hat,  or  offer 
him  his  coat,  so  only  the  elect  could  come  close  to  the 
royal  bed.  Once  upon  a  time  the  president  of  the  Parlia- 
ment, in  a  moment  of  lunacy,  ventured  to  put  his  profane 
feet  over  the  "dead  line."  Angry  remonstrances  at  once 


xxxv  LOUIS   THE   FOURTEENTH  695 

arose  from  the  attendant  nobles,  and  the  abashed  presi- 
dent had  to  hasten  back  on  the  safe  side  of  the  line. 

The  king  himself  attached  the  utmost  importance  to 
every  detail  of  court  etiquette.  He  pays  each  noble 
lord  or  lady  the  exact  due  of  stately  politeness,  and  he 
exacts  full  payment  from  them.  To  the  princes  of  the 
blood  belongs  one  degree  of  respect  —  the  highest.  Then 
come  certain  of  the  older  nobility,  to  whom  he  extends  a 
politeness  less  marked  than  that  which  he  pays  to  princes 
of  the  blood.  Then  there  are  other  gradations  in  the 
scale  of  courtesy,  until  he  gets  down  to  the  common  herd 
of  the  nobility.  He  omits  no  mark  of  respect  due  to  any 
member  of  his  court.  He  allows  them  to  omit  none  due 
to  him.  He  feels  that  to  maintain  one  part  of  the  system, 
he  must  maintain  all.  If  he  relaxes  in  one  place,  loose- 
ness will  follow  in  others. 

When  it  became  necessary  to  have  the  renunciation  of 
the  Duke  of  Anjou,  then  king  of  Spain,  duly  made  and 
witnessed,  the  presence  of  the  notables  was  necessary. 
Louis  remarked  casually  that  he  hoped  to  see  them  pres- 
ent on  the  day  in  question.  This  would  not  do  at  all. 
The  notables  agitate  themselves,  resent  the  want  of  re- 
spect about  to  be  shown  them,  and  the  king  is  given  to 
understand  that  unless  his  faithful  notables  are  summoned 
in  writing,  according  to  custom,  said  notables  will  remain 
away  from  the  ceremony.  Despotic  as  Louis  is,  he  does 
not  venture  to  disregard  the  custom,  the  formality,  the 
etiquette  of  the  occasion  ;  and  the  written  summonses 
are  duly  issued. 

Take  an  illustration  on  the  other  side.  The  scene  is 
at  Marly.  The  king  is  about  to  dine,  he  and  "the 
ladies."  No  man  ever  is  allowed,  under  any  circum- 


696  THE   STORY  OF  TRANCE  CHAP. 

stances,  to  eat  with  the  king,  at  the  king's  table.  Only 
in  the  camp  is  this  rule  departed  from,  and  even  then 
most  sparingly.  On  the  evening  we  speak  of  the  ladies 
are  seating  themselves  at  table  according  to  rank.  By 
chance,  Madame  de  Torcy  has  taken  a  seat  above  that  of 
the  Duchesse  de  Duras,  who  arrives  later.  Seeing  her 
error,  and  not  wishing  to  aggravate  her  guilt  by  harden- 
ing her  heart  in  sin,  Madame  de  Torcy  rises  from  her 
seat  and  begs  the  duchess  to  take  it,  while  she,  the  guilty 
one,  "goes  foot."  The  duchess,  being  a  courteous  lady,  and 
feeling  that  she  had  been  partly  to  blame  by  the  lateness 
of  her  arrival,  declines  to  go  up  higher,  and  insists  that 
Madame  de  Torcy  remain  where  she  is.  With  many 
pretty  speeches  the  ladies  thus  adjust  this  little  irregu- 
larity. 

The  king  now  enters,  being  himself  a  trifle  late  this 
evening.  Casting  his  Olympian  glance  around,  the  Grand 
Monarch  notes  that  Madame  de  Torcy  is  not  in  her  proper 
place.  She  is  actually  daring,  in  the  presence  of  her 
king,  to  sit  above  the  Duchess  of  Duras.  His  serenity 
at  once  leaves  him.  He  glares  at  the  unhappy  De  Torcy 
with  baleful  displeasure.  He  swells  with  suppressed 
wrath.  He  does  not  talk,  he  glooms  and  glowers  at  the 
quaking  culprit.  He  barely  tastes  his  food,  which  is  an 
alarmingly  bad  sign,  for  the  Grand  Monarch  is  a  mighty 
eater. 

Still  enveloped  in  clouds,  Louis  rises  from  the  table 
and  proceeds  to  the  rooms  of  Madame  de  Maintenon,  his 
mistress  or  wife,  as  the  case  may  be.  He  is  hardly  seated 
before  he  explodes.  He  has  been,  he  says,  a  witness  of 
an  act  of  incredible  insolence.  He  says  that  Madame  de 
Torcy's  conduct  had  thrown  him  into  such  a  rage  that  he 


697 

had  been  unable  to  eat ;  and  that  he  had  ten  times  been 
on  the  point  of  making  her  leave  the  table  —  she,  the 
insolent  bourgeoise  !  Here  he  branched  off  into  a  his- 
tory of  the  De  Torcy  family,  explaining  what  very  com- 
mon people  they  were  as  compared  to  the  dukes.  He  gave 
the  princesses  of  the  blood  strict  orders  to  make  known 
his  displeasure  to  Madame  de  Torcy,  and  to  tell  her  that 
he  had  found  her  conduct  impertinent.  He  then  left  the 
room.  The  dreadful  news  flew  all  over  the  palace.  Great 
was  the  buzzing  of  the  courtiers.  The  taking  of  Gibraltar 
would  not  have  excited  them  so  much. 

But  the  incident  was  not  closed.  Louis  was  still  fu- 
ming and  swelling.  Once  more  the  same  evening  he 
exploded,  and  bitterly  vented  his  dissatisfaction  with  the 
guilty  lady. 

Next  day  the  storm  raged  again,  and  the  king  could 
talk  of  nothing  else  but  Madame  de  Torcy 's  revolutionary 
conduct,  —  conduct  destructive  to  the  sacred  fabric  of 
social  ceremony.  It  never  once  occurred  to  the  king  that 
the  lady's  excuse  entered  into  the  merit  of  the  question 
at  all.  He  could  not  be  appeased  until  the  lady  had  been 
rebuked,  and  her  husband  had  written  the  king  a  letter 
of  contrite  apology. 

If  the  Grand  Monarch  was  so  imperious  as  this  con- 
cerning an  unintentional  sin  against  etiquette,  we  can 
imagine  how  terrible  will  be  the  fate  of  any  one  who  has 
defied  his  authority. 

One  day  a  party  of  nobles  pursue  the  stag  till  the 
chase  leads  them  far  into  the  country.  They  lose  their 
way.  Presently  night  comes  on,  and  their  distress  is 
considerable.  They  grope  about  in  the  forest,  seeking 
some  house  where  they  may  shelter  themselves  for  the 


598  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

night.  A  light  appears  at  last,  and  they  find  comfort- 
able quarters  and  a  courteous  welcome  from  a  gentleman 
whose  name  they  find  to  be  Fargues. 

Next  morning  he  pilots  them  back  to  their  road,  and 
they  return  to  court,  loudly  praising  their  host.  But  the 
king  looks  surprised  and  wrathful.  What  can  be  the 
matter  ? 

It  appears  that  this  Fargues  had  borne  arms  against 
the  court  in  the  civil  wars  of  the  Fronde.  Louis  remem- 
bers the  name  and  the  offence.  He  is  filled  with  anger. 
How  dare  this  man  live  in  comfort  and  peace,  so  near  to 
the  king  he  had  once  defied  ?  It  cannot  be  borne.  Long 
ago  the  civil  wars  were  ended  and  a  general  amnesty 
granted  ;  but  no  matter,  the  king  is  bent  on  revenge. 

Lamoignon,  the  king's  prosecutor,  is  ordered  to  hunt 
up  some  crime  for  which  the  old-time  rebel  may  be  killed. 
A  crime  is  found  accordingly.  Crimes  were  not  difficult  to 
find  in  the  days  of  the  civil  wars.  A  man  had  been  killed 
and  Fargues  had  been  concerned  in  it  —  not  a  strange 
thing  in  times  of  civil  war.  Fargues  is  arrested,  tried, 
and  condemned.  In  vain  he  pleads  the  amnesty.  In 
vain  he  pleads  that  war  was  raging,  and  that  the  man 
fell  in  due  course  of  war.  Louis  wants  Fargues'  life, 
and  the  death  penalty  is  inflicted.  It  was  murder,  —  a 
mean  and  cowardly  murder  of  a  weak,  friendless  man. 
There  was  the  Prince  of  Conde*,  rich,  powerful,  and 
secure,  who  had  led  the  revolt  which  Fargues  had  merely 
followed.  And  Conde  had  added  to  the  crime  of  rebel- 
lion against  his  king  that  of  treason  against  France  ;  for 
he  had  taken  service  with  Spain  and  had  waged  war  upon 
his  native  land.  Louis  dares  not  go  behind  amnesties  to 
punish  Conde  —  the  powerful  prince  of  the  blood  who 


xxxv  LOUIS   THE   FOURTEENTH  599 

has  friends,  relatives,  and  supporters  throughout  the 
kingdom.  He  meanly  and  cruelly  wreaks  his  vengeance 
upon  a  commoner,  a  weakling,  whom  it  was  safe  to  murder. 

And  yet,  with  all  his  pride,  the  Grand  Monarch  could 
stoop  to  conquer,  like  the  lowest  of  the  bourgeoisie. 

In  his  latter  years,  as  we  have  seen,  cash  became 
wonderfully  scarce.  The  royal  treasury  was  worse  than 
empty.  It  was  mortgaged  and  discredited. 

The  aged  monarch  was  in  desperate  need  of  ready 
money.  He  was  obliged  to  get  a  supply  somewhere. 

The  Grand  Monarch  and  his  financial  secretary,  Des- 
marets,  lay  their  heads  together,  and  concoct  a  scheme  to 
replenish  the  royal  purse. 

In  Paris  there  is  a  rich  banker,  Bernard  by  name.  He 
is  not  a  noble,  but  he  has  money.  He  is  merely  of  the 
despised  bourgeoisie,  but  he  has  money. 

This  rich  citizen  of  low  birth  will  be  delighted  at 
any  attention  paid  him  by  the  Grand  Monarch.  If  his 
Majesty  will  but  stoop  to  bestow  some  little  notice  upon 
Bernard,  the  banker  will  doubtless  be  so  overjoyed  that 
he  will  lend  the  king  some  cash.  Louis  and  Desmarets, 
knowing  this,  form  their  plans  accordingly. 

The  Grand  Monarch  decides  to  stoop  ;  Desmarets  is 
to  bring  Bernard  out  to  Marly,  and  show  him  around  the 
grounds ;  Louis  is  to  happen  along,  in  his  majestic  way, 
at  the  right  moment,  and  condescend  to  see  Bernard. 
Desmarets  is  then  to  disappear  while  Louis  himself 
shows  Bernard  around  and  fills  the  plebeian  soul  of  the 
rich  man  with  ecstasy  unspeakable. 

And  so  it  happens.  Bernard  is  invited  out  to  the 
palace  by  Desmarets;  Louis  imposingly  struts  up  and 
salutes  Bernard  ;  Desmarets  glides  off  ;  Louis  takes 


600  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

charge  of  the  delighted  banker,  promenades  with  him 
over  the  park,  points  out  to  the  enraptured  commoner  the 
fountains,  the  basins,  the  alleys,  the  groves,  and  the  flower- 
beds, with  that  courtly  grace  which  is  natural  to  the 
Grand  Monarch.  Bernard  thrills  with  ecstasy  ;  Bernard 
is  enchanted  ;  Bernard  quivers  with  exquisite  apprecia- 
tion of  the  great  king's  condescension  ;  and  Bernard  joy- 
fully hands  over  to  the  king's  minister  all  the  cash  he  can 
rake  and  scrape,  goes  into  bankruptcy  soon  afterwards, 
and  pulls  down,  in  his  own  failure,  scores  of  other  com- 
mercial and  banking  houses  in  a  crash  which  resounds 
throughout  France. 

If  Louis  XIV.  ever  loved  any  one  but  himself,  it  had 
seemed  to  be  the  young  Duchess  of  Burgundy,  his  grand- 
daughter by  marriage.  She  was  the  pet,  the  privileged 
character  of  the  court.  To  amuse  the  old  king  she  played 
the  girl,  the  family  kitten.  She  flattered  him,  coddled 
him,  fondled  him.  She  would  fling  her  arms  about  his 
neck,  sit  upon  his  knees,  play  at  his  feet,  and  monkey  with 
that  steady-going  old  matron,  Madame  de  Maintenon, 
until  her  wintry  features  were  sunlit  with  a  smile. 

But  this  frolicsome  young  duchess,  who  was  almost  the 
sole  ray  of  light  in  this  dismal  marble  palace  where  the 
aged  king  and  his  aged  Maintenon  sat  enshrouded  in 
the  gloom  which  they  took  to  be  religion,  was  not  really 
a  girl,  but  a  woman  who  was  married,  and  had  children. 
She  was  about  to  bear  another,  and  for  the  present  she 
cannot  play  the  family  kitten  for  the  amusement  of  the 
master  of  the  house.  The  king,  missing  his  accustomed 
pleasures  from  that  source,  becomes  impatient.  Depriva- 
tion of  any  sort  nettles  him. 

One  day  as  he  is  strutting  about  majestically  in  the 


xxxv  LOUIS  THE  FOURTEENTH  601 

park,  attended  by  a  bevy  of  courtiers,  word  is  brought 
that  the  young  duchess  has  miscarried. 

"  What  is  that  to  me  ? "  cries  our  Grand  Monarch. 
"Have  I  not  an  heir  already?  How  does  it  matter  to 
me  who  succeeds  me,  the  one  or  the  other  ?  " 

The  astonished  courtiers  remain  silent.  "Since  it 
had  to  be  so,  I  thank  God  that  it  is  over.  I  shall  no 
longer  be  interfered  with  in  my  pleasures  with  remon- 
strances of  doctors  and  matrons.  I  can  once  more  come 
and  go  as  I  please." 

St.  Simon  says  that  the  courtiers  were  dumb;  but  as  the 
Grand  Monarch  strutted  on  there  were  looks  exchanged 
behind  his  back,  and  eyebrows  lifted. 

Yet  so  completely  did  this  monstrous  absolutism  impose 
upon  the  men  of  that  time,  and  so  thoroughly  had  Louis 
conquered  France  with  his  everlasting  strut,  that  Racine, 
the  great  dramatist,  said,  in  a  public  address  before  the 
French  Academy,  that  the  greatest  incentive  the  scholars 
of  France  could  have  diligently  to  continue  their  efforts 
to  perfect  the  French  language,  should  be  to  make  it  more 
and  more  worthy  to  celebrate  the  praises  of  Louis  XIV. 

I  have  dwelt  on  the  system  of  Louis  XIV.  because  I 
find  within  it  the  embryo  of  the  French  Revolution. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  attribute  that  convulsion  to  the  gay 
libertine,  the  Regent  Orleans,  the  feeble  voluptuary,  Louis 
XV.,  or  to  the  stolid,  stupid  Louis  XVI.  These  men 
were  simply  the  legatees  of  a  system  which  was  doomed 
to  fall  of  its  own  faulty  construction.  Such  a  preposter- 
ous government  as  that  which  Church  and  State  imposed 
upon  the  people  under  Louis  XIV.  carried  its  death-war- 
rant with  it.  It  was  a  system  utterly  at  war  with  modern 
tendencies,  and,  under  a  weak  king,  would  fall  unless  all 


602  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

the  privileged  united  to  rivet  the  fetters  upon  the  un- 
privileged. Even  then,  the  result  of  the  inevitable 
struggle  would  have  been  doubtful. 

Under  Louis  XIV.  the  old  regime  reached  high-water 
mark.  I  do  not  find  that  any  material  alteration  was 
made  in  the  governmental  machine  after  that.  No  further 
privileges  of  consequence  were  granted  to  the  nobility. 
No  considerable  addition  was  made  to  the  burdens  of  the 
taxpayers.  The  inequalities  between  the  privileged  and 
the  unprivileged  were  no  greater  after  the  death  of  Louis 
XIV.  than  they  were  before.  Politically  and  socially 
the  relations  of  the  different  orders  remained  the  same. 

The  poverty  of  the  people  grew  no  more  distressing 
than  it  had  been  under  Louis  XIV.  Upon  the  other 
hand,  the  middle  classes  had  prospered  in  business  pur- 
suits, while  the  nobles  had  spent  in  court  life  and  its 
dissipations  much  of  their  inherited  wealth. 

The  nation,  taken  as  a  whole,  was  more  wealthy  and 
more  populous  under  Louis  XV.  and  Louis  XVI.,  than  it 
had  been  under  Louis  XIV. 

Why,  then,  was  there  no  Revolution  till  1789?  Because 
under  Louis  XIV.  French  loyalty  to  the  king  had  not  been 
tired  out. 

From  the  cradle,  children  were  taught  to  worship  God 
and  the  king,  and  their  reverence  for  the  one  went  hand 
in  hand  with  their  loyalty  to  the  other.  They  enjoyed 
the  privilege  of  entering  the  palace  and  of  being  eye- 
witnesses to  the  birth  of  their  future  master.  They  also 
had  the  high  privilege  of  coming  to  the  palace  and  seeing 
royalty  eat.  Any  decently  clad  citizen  could  come  at  his 
pleasure  and  see  the  dauphin  sip  soup,  see  the  king  devour 
mutton,  and  the  queen  mince  pie. 


xxxr  LOUIS   THE   FOURTEENTH  603 

Enjoying  liberties  like  these,  the  people  were  grateful. 
They  adored  the  king.  And  when  an  heir  was  born  to 
him  they  fell  into  transports  of  joy.  It  was  so  good  of 
Heaven  to  keep  the  race  of  French  kings  from  dying  out ! 
Words  could  not  fully  express  their  appreciation  of  the 
divine  blessing.  Bonfires  had  to  blaze  in  the  streets, 
wine-casks  had  to  be  opened,  meat  and  drink  had  to  be 
handed  round,  songs  had  to  be  sung,  and  dances  of 
jubilation  danced. 

With  such  a  reserve  fund  of  inherited  stupidity,  super- 
stition, and  loyalty  to  draw  upon,  it  is  no  great  wonder 
that  even  the  preposterous  system  of  Louis  XIV.  was 
nearly  a  century  in  exhausting  its  credit. 

Much  has  been  said  by  historians  about  the  baleful 
influence  of  bad  women  in  the  administrations  of  the 
regent  and  the  two  kings  who  followed. 

Even  Carlyle  sees  something  especially  significant  and 
disgraceful  in  the  public  appearance  of  Louis  XV.  with 
his  mistress  at  Compiegne. 

All  this  was  bad  enough,  but  it  was  part  of  the  system 
of  Louis  XIV. 

He  it  was  who  first  honoured  his  mistresses  by  formal 
and  public  recognition.  Under  his  administration  the 
royal  concubine  became  a  functionary  of  the  State.  The 
Montespan  bore  her  seven  bastards  in  the  palace,  publicly, 
as  became  a  queen. 

At  that  very  camp  of  Compiegne  where  Louis  XV. 
paid  public  court  to  the  Du  Barry,  his  grandfather 
Louis  XIV.  had  stood  "with  doffed  hat"  before 
Madame  de  Maintenon,  doing  her  honour  in  presence  of 
his  whole  army  and  the  distinguished  foreigners  there 
assembled. 


604  THE  STOKY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

When  he  went  to  the  wars  in  Flanders  did  not  Louis 
XIV.  carry  "  the  ladies  "  along  ?  And  as  to  himself,  were 
there  not  three  of  said  ladies  set  apart  ?  First,  there  was 
the  Montespan,  the  rising  star  of  the  harem ;  second, 
there  was  the  Valliere,  who  was  on  the  wane  ;  third  and 
last,  there  was  his  lawful  wife  —  the  pious,  patient, 
devoted  Maria  Theresa,  who  was  ever  ready  to  radiate  her 
lonely  heart  with  the  fulness  of  joy  if  Louis  would  only 
deign  now  and  then  to  smile  in  her  eyes.  Think  of  it  - 
two  mistresses  and  a  wife  carried  along  with  him  to  the 
army,  and  all  in  the  same  carriage  ! 

And  yet  even  the  historians  who  condemn  Louis  as  a 
ruler,  claim,  with  one  accord,  that  he  was  a  gentleman. 

Under  Louis  we  see  more  money  lavished  upon  women 
than  under  the  kings  who  succeeded. 

We  find  petticoat  rule  and  Jesuit  influence  making  a 
slave  of  a  king  who  fancies  he  is  an  autocrat,  just  as  we 
see  it  later.  The  generals  who  lead  the  armies  of  France 
find  it  wise  to  pay  court  to  his  concubines  and  his  valets. 
The  eunuchs  of  the  harem,  in  an  Eastern  despotism,  were 
not  more  assiduously  cultivated  by  those  who  wished 
favours  at  court  than  were  the  valets  of  the  king  and  the 
serving  women  of  the  concubines. 

We  see  him  squander  millions  upon  buildings  erected 
for  his  own  gratification  where  his  successors  did  not 
spend  thousands.  We  see  him  allow  his  favourites  to 
plunder  the  treasury,  quite  as  freely  as  was  done  subse- 
quently. 

Morals  were  not  at  lower  ebb  under  Louis  XV.  than 
under  Louis  XIV.  Immorality  ceased  to  pretend  to  hide 
itself,  that  was  all.  When  Louis  XIV.  legitimized  his 
bastards,  compelled  their  recognition  as  princes  of  the 


xxxv  LOUIS  THE  FOURTEENTH  605 

blood,  and  formally  forced  them  into  the  line  of  succes- 
sion, he  made  a  more  brutal  attack  upon  public  morals 
than  Louis  XV.  ever  dared  to  make.  To  enrich  one 
of  these  bastards  Louis  XIV.,  the  gentleman,  com- 
pelled his  own  cousin,  the  Grand  Mademoiselle,  to  convey 
to  the  Duke  of  Maine  a  large  portion  of  her  magnificent 
property,  as  the  price  of  Louis'  release  from  captivity  of 
the  crazy  Lauzun,  whom  she  madly  loved  and  had 
privately  married. 

Under  Louis  XIV.  we  will  find  all  the  odious  taxes 
which  were  the  grievances  of  1789  ;  the  forced  labour 
and  the  serfdom. 

We  will  find  that  it  was  a  regular  part  of  the  king's 
system  to  violate  the  liberty  of  the  citizen,  by  opening 
his  letters  as  they  passed  through  the  mails.  In  this  way 
Louis  XIV.,  the  gentleman,  kept  himself  informed  of 
the  secret  opinions,  expressions,  and  conduct  of  his  sub- 
jects. This  opening  of  private  letters  was  thought  to  be 
very  low  and  vulgar,  when  practised  a  century  later  by 
"the  Corsican  upstart,"  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 

Arbitrary  arrests,  imprisonments,  and  punishments 
were  as  common  and  as  flagrant  under  Louis  XIV.  as 
they  ever  became. 

In  the  prisons,  after  Louis'  death,  were  found  political 
prisoners  and  religious  prisoners  in  great  numbers.  The 
regent  released  them,  to  the  great  joy  of  the  people. 

In  the  Bastille  was  found  among  others  one  prisoner 
who  had  been  confined  there  thirty-five  years.  He  had 
not  been  tried.  He  had  not  been  told  the  cause  of  his 
arrest.  He  had  come  to  Paris  from  Italy  on  a  visit, 
thirty-five  years  before,  and  had  been  arrested  as  he 
stepped  out  of  his  carriage.  Into  the  Bastille  he  had 


606  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP 

been  put,  and  there  he  had  lain  from  then  until  now. 
Nobody  could  tell  why  the  man  had  been  imprisoned. 
The  prosecutor  could  never  be  found.  The  records 
showed  nothing,  except  that  the  Bastille  had  swallowed 
its  victim  —  thirty -five  years  before  ! 

And  there  he  had  lain  all  these  dreadful,  dreary  years, 
eating  his  heart  out  with  rage  and  despair,  with  grief  and 
with  the  gnawing  wish  to  know  something  of  life  outside, 
something  of  home  and  friends,  of  wife  and  child,  far 
away  among  the  sunny  slopes  of  his  Italian  fatherland. 
What  bitter  tears  must  have  wetted  the  cold  rocks  of 
that  lonely  cell,  during  the  awful  days  and  nights  of  those 
thirty-five  years ! 

Louis  XIV.,  gorgeously  arrayed,  filling  his  royal  nostrils 
with  the  sweet  savour  of  courtly  incense  whichever  way 
he  turns,  parades  up  and  down  the  walks  of  Versailles, 
hums  between  his  teeth  the  songs  in  which  his  own 
praises  are  sung,  basks  in  the  light  of  the  sun  and  the 
smirks  of  his  parasites,  and  nowhere  in  the  machinery  of 
his  government  is  there  a  cog  which  carries  acquittal  or 
conviction  to  the  prisoner  stiffening  with  age  in  his  cell, 
and  who  has  groaned  in  prison  while  one  whole  generation 
of  men  has  been  born,  has  gone  forth  buoyantly  to  the 
fields  of  labour,  to  the  ranks  of  the  army,  to  the  ships 
of  the  sea  —  and  has  been  cut  down  as  grass  by  the  sickle 
of  the  years,  and  has  given  place  to  the  hurrying  feet  of 
another  ! 

Louis  XIV.  dies  in  1715,  and  the  prisoner  of  thirty- 
five  years  wakes  up  one  morning,  and  finds  himself  free. 

They  unlock  his  door,  lead  him  forth,  and  tell  him  to 
go  home. 

Home  ?     What  would  he  find  there  now  ?     Long,  long 


xxxv  LOUIS  THE   FOURTEENTH  607 

ago  he  must  have  been  given  up  as  dead.  His  wife  can- 
not yet  be  living  and  waiting.  If  she  lives,  some  other 
man  is  her  husband.  His  children  will  now  be  in  middle 
age,  if  alive.  Who  can  tell  if  they  yet  be  in  Italy  ?  And, 
after  all  these  years,  who  knows  whether  his  return  to 
native  land  might  not  carry  more  grief  than  joy  ? 

"  Alas  !  where  can  I  go  ?  "  asks  the  poor  prisoner.  "  I 
cannot  now  earn  my  living  ;  home,  I  have  none  ;  friends, 
I  have  none.  You  have  kept  me  here  in  prison  thirty- 
five  years,  the  best  part  of  my  life  ;  let  me  stay  here  in 
my  cell  till  I  die." 

And  they  did  so,  giving  him  all  the  liberties  he  would 
enjoy,  and  all  the  comforts  he  craved. 


CHAPTER   XXXVI 

THE  REGENCY 
JOHN  LAW  AND  HIS  SCHEMES 

T  GUIS  XIV.  was  succeeded  by  his  grandson,  Louis  XV., 
who  was  but  five  years  of  age.     His  parents  were  dead, 
and  the  regency  was  obtained  by  the  young  king's  next  of 
kin,  Louis,  Duke  of  Orleans. 

The  will  of  Louis  XIV.  had  sought  to  deprive  Orleans 
of  the  full  power  of  the  regency,  and  to  throw  most  of  it 
into  the  hands  of  the  Duke  of  Maine,  but  the  Parliament 
and  the  nobility,  to  whom  Orleans  adroitly  appealed, 
showed  the  utmost  readiness  in  disregarding  the  direc- 
tions of  the  deceased  monarch,  to  whose  slightest  nod  they 
had  bent  so  long. 

The  Regent  Orleans  was  one  of  the  richest  of  men,  and 
one  of  the  most  dissolute.  Good-natured,  intelligent, 
brave,  and  ambitious,  he  was  the  slave  of  the  most  aban- 
doned appetites,  and  a  weakling  in  the  hands  of  designing 
men. 

His  policy  was,  in  the  main,  dictated  by  Cardinal  Du- 

bois,  a  crafty  priest,  who,  after  having  been  his  teacher  in 

youth,  became  the  ruling  spirit  of  his  administration. 

A.D.        Orleans  began  his  regency  by  opening  the  prisons  and 

1716   releasing  political  prisoners.     He  also  made  a  raid  on  the 

farmers   of  the  taxes  with   the  intention    of  compelling 

608 


CHAP,  xxxvi  THE   REGENCY  609 

thein  to  disgorge.  They  had  looted  the  public  funds  to 
the  extent  of  many  hundreds  of  millions,  and  several  of 
them  committed  suicide  to  avoid  the  shame  and  the  pun- 
ishment which  threatened  them.  Most  of  them,  however, 
resorted  to  the  judicious  bribery  of  influential  people,  and 
in  a  short  time  the  prosecutions  were  discontinued.  Only 
•$15,000,000  in  cash  reached  the  treasury  as  the  net  result 
of  the  raid. 

Orleans,  in  accordance  with  the  agreement  he  had 
made  with  the  nobles  previous  to  their  support  of  him 
for  the  regency,  appointed  six  councils  to  manage  the 
affairs  of  the  various  departments  of  State. 

These  councils  were  composed  of  nobles,  with  the 
sole  exception  of  Dubois.  It  was  found,  however, 
after  fair  trial,  that  these  nobles  were  utterly  incapable 
of  discharging  the  duties  of  their  places,  and  the  coun- 
cils were  dissolved. 

That  to  which  Dubois  had  been  appointed  never  was 
even  able  to  organize  itself.  The  other  members  dis- 
puted with  him  as  to  the  place  where  he  should  sit, 
and  he,  being  a  most  litigious  person,  insisted  upon  his 
rights.  The  council  went  to  pieces  upon  that  ceremonial 
rock. 

Commenting  upon  the  incapacity  shown  by  the  nobles 
in  these  councils,  the  Duke  of  Antin  writes  in  his 
Memoirs  some  interesting  comments.  He  says  that  Louis 
XIV.  had  never  employed  the  nobles  when  real  work 
was  to  be  done,  because  they  were  unfit  for  it,  and  that 
now  the  regent  had  tried  them,  and  found  them  still 
wanting.  Antin  thought  that  they  were  "unfitted  for 
business  and  good  for  nothing  but  to  get  killed  in  war." 
He  further  expresses  his  uneasiness  lest  their  incapacity 
2a. 


610  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

should  become  generally  known,  thus  bringing  loss  of 
influence  to  the  entire  aristocracy. 

The  greatest  difficulty  which  confronted  the  regent 
was  the  empty  treasury  —  the  deficit.  The  outgo  was 
chronically  and  increasingly  greater  than  the  income. 

The  Duke  of  Noailles,  the  chief  of  the  council  of 
finance,  wrote  to  Madame  de  Maintenon  :  — 

"  We  have  found  matters  in  a  more  terrible  state  than 
can  be  described  ;  both  the  king  and  his  subjects  are  ruined  ; 
nothing  paid  for  several  years  ;  confidence  is  entirely  gone. 
Hardly  ever  has  the  monarchy  been  in  such  a  condition, 
though  it  has  several  times  been  near  its  ruin.  The 
picture  is  not  agreeable,  but  it  is  only  too  true." 

In  these  dismal  sentences  the  old  courtier  of  the 
Grand  Monarch  has  written  a  terrific  epitaph  of  that 
destructive  reign. 

The  regent  resorted  to  various  expedients  to  obtain 
relief.  Not  reaping  much  of  a  harvest  by  levying  tribute 
upon  the  tax  gatherers,  he  tried  a  mild  type  of  repudia- 
tion. He  arbitrarily  scaled  certain  classes  of  the  public 
debt,  abolished  many  offices  which  Louis  XIV.  had  created 
and  sold,  and  cut  off  some  pensions  and  annuities.  He 
also  recoined  the  specie,  putting  less  gold  and  silver 
into  the  coins  than  they  had  contained  before,  —  a  method 
by  which  he  hoped  to  get  enough  money  out  of  100  francs 
to  pay  a  debt  of  125.  The  device  gave  the  honest 
regent  some  relief,  but  not  enough. 

While  the  government  was  floundering  helplessly  amid 
the  difficulties  which  the  Grand  Monarch  had  so  majes- 
tically bequeathed  to  his  successors,  a  new  figure  ap- 
peared upon  the  scene  and  proposed  to  introduce  an 
era  of  prosperity. 


xxxvi  THE   REGENCY  611 

John  Law  was  born  in  Edinburgh  of  respectable  par- 
ents, his  father  being  a  goldsmith  and  banker.  The 
son  was  well  educated,  and  inherited  a  good  estate. 

He  went  up  to  London  at  an  early  age,  entered  fashion- 
able society,  and  sowed  a  heavy  crop  of  wild  oats.  He 
kept  this  up  for  several  years,  wasting  his  substance  in  riot- 
ous living,  until  he  killed  a  fellow-citizen  in  a  duel,  and 
had  to  leave  England.  He  then  went  to  the  Continent, 
where  he  devoted  a  great  deal  of  time  to  the  study  of 
the  bank  of  Amsterdam  and  other  banks  —  including 
faro  banks.  He  was  an  expert  mathematician,  and  an 
enthusiast  on  financial  subjects,  believing,  as  many 
other  well-meaning  enthusiasts  have  done,  that  he  had 
penetrated  the  mystery  of  the  money  question.  His 
theory  was  that  the  circulation  should  be  increased,  and 
that  the  true  basis  of  money  was  the  credit  of  the 
nation. 

He  formulated  his  plan  of  a  bank,  and  bored  people  by 
talking  about  it,  becoming  almost  as  great  a  nuisance  as 
Columbus  did  when  he  went  wandering  about  Europe, 
begging  kings  to  lend  him  money  with  which  to  find  a 
new  world.  The  inventors  of  new  things  are  terribly  tire- 
some creatures.  Had  Napoleon  been  able  to  listen  more 
patiently  to  Robert  Fulton,  he  might  have  realized  that 
the  idea  of  the  steamboat,  properly  applied,  would  have 
swept  the  wooden  sailing-ships  of  England  off  the  seas, 
and  sent  the  British  Empire  to  rack  and  ruin. 

But  these  pioneers  of  new  ideas  are  fearfully  persistent, 
and  John  Law  finally  secured  the  countenance  of  the 
Regent  Orleans.  It  has  suited  the  purpose  of  those 
who  have  a  deadly  hatred  of  paper-money  theories,  to 
represent  John  Law  as  a  very  bad  man,  and  they  lay 


612  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

special  stress  upon  the  fact  that  he  was  a  professional 
gambler.  Every  man  must  be  judged  by  the  times  in 
which  he  lives,  and  in  those  days  everybody  gambled. 
The  kings  gambled,  the  queens  gambled,  the  nobles  gam- 
bled, the  priests  gambled,  the  commons  gambled.  There 
are  well-authenticated  instances  in  which  the  mourners 
played  cards  on  the  coffin  of  the  deceased  on  the  way  to 
the  cemetery. 

Louis  XIV.,  who  was  reigning  when  Law  first  appeared 
at  the  court  of  France,  not  only  gambled  himself,  but 
insisted  upon  it  among  his  courtiers,  and  encouraged  his 
children  and  grandchildren  to  bet  heavily. 

Gaming  tables  were  kept  ready  in  the  palace,  and  the 
king  loved  to  pass  among  the  lords  and  ladies  and  ex- 
change courteous  nothings  with  them  while  the  games 
were  going  on.  Several  times  he  appropriated  huge  sums 
of  public  money  to  defray  the  gambling  debts  of  his 
family  and  his  favourites.  The  same  fashion  of  universal 
gaming  continued  under  the  regency  of  Orleans,  and  also 
during  the  long  reign  of  Louis  XV. 

When  John  Law  was  in  London,  Charles  II.,  and  all 
the  court,  and  all  the  fashionable  world  gambled.  When 
he  went  to  other  countries,  he  found  the  same  fever  raging 
there,  and  he  followed  the  fashion.  In  associating  with 
kings,  queens,  princes,  dukes,  he  lost  the  simple  ways  of 
his  Scotch  ancestors,  and  became  a  man  of  the  world.  He 
could  not  hope  to  surpass  the  immoralities  of  the  French 
court,  but  he  kept  them  in  sight.  Good  manners  required  it. 
He  could  not  bet  as  heavily  as  King  Louis  or  the  princes 
of  the  blood,  because  he  had  no  tax  money  of  the  people 
out  of  which  to  recoup  his  losses.  He  could  not  drink  as 
much  and  be  drunk  as  often  as  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  be- 


xxxvi  THE   REGENCY  613 

cause  he  was  a  foreigner  and  had  a  character  to  sustain. 
He  could  not  keep  as  many  fine  horses  as  the  Duke  of 
Bourbon,  because  he  was  not  the  heir  of  a  family  which 
had  been  looting  the  national  treasury  of  France  for  200 
years.  He  could  not  afford  a  seraglio  of  as  many  fine 
women  as  the  Duke  of  Richelieu,  because  he  had  to  pass 
at  least  part  of  the  day  in  attending  to  business. 

But  while  Law  was  not  so  bad  as  any  of  these  high-born 
rascals,  we  admit  that  he  followed  humbly  at  a  distance, 
and  became  as  loose  in  his  morals  as  royal  etiquette  de- 
manded. It  should  be  remembered  to  his  credit  that  he 
was  absolutely  sincere  in  his  financial  views  and  staked 
his  all  upon  them.  When  he  finally  left  France,  fleeing 
for  his  life,  he  carried  nothing  with  him,  and  the  govern- 
ment coolly  appropriated  his  private  fortune  to  its  own 
virtuous  uses. 

What  was  the  famous  "  System  "  of  John  Law  ? 

In  a  nutshell  it  was  this :  to  increase  the  money 
supply  of  the  nation  so  that  circulation  would  be  quick- 
ened, business  encouraged,  enterprise  stimulated,  labour 
employed,  products  multiplied,  prices  raised,  and  debts 
more  easily  paid. 

This  shrewd  Scotchman  saw  that  the  world  was  chained 
down  by  silver  and  gold.  He  saw  that  commerce  tried 
in  vain  to  spread  her  wings  for  a  bolder  flight.  He  real- 
ized that  the  world's  stock  of  the  precious  metal  was  too 
small  to  supply  the  needs  of  mankind  for  money.  There- 
fore he  proposed  that  in  addition  to  the  metallic  money 
coined,  the  State  should  issue  a  paper  currency  based 
upon  the  public  credit. 

When  this  suggestion  was  first  made,  it  was  laughed 
out  of  court.  Even  now  there  are  well-meaning  people 


614  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

the  world  over  who  have  a  superstitious  reverence  for 
the  old  orthodox  doctrines  about  money.  John  Law, 
having  a  pair  of  eyes,  dared  to  use  them  ;  having  a  mind, 
ventured  to  think  for  himself. 

His  original  plan  was  to  use  land  as  the  basis  of  his 
paper  money,  issuing  to  the  owner,  on  pledge  of  his  prop- 
erty, notes  to  the  amount  of  two-thirds  of  its  value. 

In  France  his  proposals  to  come  to  the  relief  of  the 
government  with  paper  money  were  rejected,  but  he  was 
allowed  to  establish  a  bank,  the  first  ever  known  in 
France. 

A-D-  Chartered  in  May,  1716,  with  a  capital  of  6,000,000 
livres,  its  notes  being  redeemable  in  coin  of  a  fixed 
weight  and  fineness,  it  prospered  steadily,  and  soon  had 
51,000,000  livres  of  its  notes  in  circulation.  The  effect 
attracted  the  attention  of  all.  Perkins,  in  his  history  of 
"  France  under  the  Regency,"  says,  "  Merchants  undertook 
new  enterprises ;  manufacturers  increased  their  products ; 
the  market  for  grain  improved;  the  rate  of  interest  fell." 
Thus  the  benefits  which  invariably  attend  a  liberal 
supply  of  currency  were  enjoyed  by  the  country  at  large. 
In  December,  1718,  the  bank  became  a  state  institution 
—  a  national  bank.  Law  was  no  longer  its  sole  manager ; 
a  royal  council  controlled.  The  king  was  to  be  liable 
for  its  bills,  and  the  government  was  to  regulate  the 
amount  issued. 

A.D.  This  was  bad  for  Law  and  his  system :  first,  because 
1718  the  royal  credit  was  low ;  and  second,  because  no  one 
could  predict  how  far  the  needy  and  profligate  govern- 
ment might  go  in  issuing  bills.  Nowhere  does  it  appear 
that  these  bills  were  to  be  made  a  legal  tender.  They 
were  merely  the  king's  due-bills  —  his  promises  to  pay  ; 


xxxvi  THE   REGENCY  616 

hence,  they  were  not  in  themselves  money.  They  were 
redeemable  in  gold  and  silver,  and  circulated  not  upon 
their  legal-tender  quality,  but  upon  their  claim  to  be 
redeemed  in  metallic  money. 

Of  course  the  moment  the  government  issued  more 
of  these  notes  than  it  could  meet  with  coin  on  demand, 
the  whole  fabric  would  topple.  Such  notes  did  not  free 
the  people  from  the  coin  bondage  at  all ;  on  the  contrary, 
the  despotic  mastery  of  values,  in  the  long  run,  was  left 
just  where  it  had  been  all  the  while,  —  in  coin,  the  money 
of  the  redemption. 

In  consenting  to  this  arrangement,  Law  was  not  true 
to  his  own  financial  principles. 

Having  made  a  splendid  success  of  his  bank,  he  launched 
into  other  enterprises.  He  dreamed  of  doing  for  France, 
on  an  enlarged  scale,  what  the  East  India  Company  was 
doing  for  England ;  also  of  developing  the  colonial  empire 
of  France,  and  of  giving  her  a  controlling  share  in  the 
ocean-going  trade  of  the  world.  Few  grander  plans  have 
ever  been  formed. 

First,  there  was  the  Louisiana  domain,  which,  up  to 
that  time,  had  yielded  the  mother  country  no  revenues, 
because  its  boundless  resources  were  unknown  and  unde- 
veloped. Law  was  the  first  who  realized  the  value  of 
this  property.  He  profoundly  believed  that  France  could 
call  into  existence  a  new  empire  beyond  the  seas,  and  that 
along  the  Mississippi  new  marts  of  trade  would  pour  forth 
their  wealth  in  tribute  to  the  mother  country.  For  nearly 
two  centuries  it  has  been  the  fashion  to  laugh  at  these  day- 
dreams of  John  Law ;  and  yet  we,  in  our  day,  can  see  that 
he  was  right  and  his  critics  wrong.  The  Louisiana  prop- 
erty included  all  the  territory  out  of  which  the  States  of 


616  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Arkansas,  Missouri,  Kansas,  Ne- 
braska, Illinois,  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  and  Minnesota  have 
been  formed,  to  say  nothing  of  the  Indian  Territory  and 
the  Dakotas. 

Not  in  his  wildest  dreams  did  Law  exaggerate  the  value 
of  the  imperial  domain  upon  which  his  company  was  based, 
and  against  which  it  issued  stock. 

The  government  ceded  to  Law's  company  the  absolute 
title  to  this  property,  —  a  grant  which  carried  New  Orleans 
at  the  one  end  and  what  is  now  Chicago  at  the  other,  and 
which  for  3000  miles  embraced  the  finest  lands,  timber, 
minerals,  and  natural  wealth  of  every  sort  that  the  earth 
affords.  Nowhere  in  all  the  world  can  be  found  as  much 
territory  in  one  body  so  intrinsically  and  permanently 
valuable  as  that  upon  which  Law  founded  his  famous 
Mississippi  Company. 

Nearly  a  century  after  he  had  failed  and  fled,  another 
wise  man  realized  the  value  of  Louisiana,  and  made  haste 
to  seize  a  sudden  opportunity  to  secure  it  for  the  United 
States,  but  even  then  Jefferson  was  severely  censured  by 
the  fossilized  growlers  of  his  day,  for  buying  worthless 
property. 

To  develop  the  Louisiana  country  and  fit  out  vessels 
for  its  trade,  Law  issued  1,000,000,000  livres  in  stock, 
in  shares  of  500  livres  each,  equal  in  our  money  to 
$200,000,000  in  shares  of  $100.  In  his  eagerness  to  please 
those  in  authority,  he  unfortunately  agreed  to  receive  in 
payment  for  his  stock  the  outstanding  notes  of  the  gov- 
ernment, which  were  at  a  discount  of  more  than  sixty  per 
cent.  Going  a  step  further  he  proposed  to  the  govern- 
ment that  as  it  was  in  no  condition  to  redeem  its  notes,  he 
would  fund  them  at  four  per  cent. 


xxxvi  THE  REGENCY  617 

Thus,  instead  of  getting  cash  for  his  stock,  he  got  a  four 
per  cent  obligation  of  a  discredited  and  bankrupt  adminis- 
tration; and  instead  of  having  money  on  hand  for  the 
building  of  ships,  warehouses,  forts,  and  for  the  purchase  of 
stores  and  supplies  for  his  colonies,  his  company  was  bur- 
dened with  the  accumulated  liabilities  of  a  broken-down 
monarchy. 

Why  did  so  shrewd  a  man  as  Law  do  so  reckless  a 
thing  ?  It  is  not  possible  to  say.  He  was  a  new  man,  a 
foreigner,  and  an  adventurer  ;  to  win  the  favour  of  the  rul- 
ing classes  was  absolutely  necessary  ;  it  may  be  that  his 
precarious  circumstances,  his  doubtful  standing,  compelled 
him  to  take  the  government  into  partnership  with  him, 
and  create  an  identity  of  interest  between  himself  and  the 
State. 

The  stock  issued  was  subscribed  slowly  ;  for  nearly  two 
years  it  was  quoted  below  par,  and  to  strengthen  his  com- 
pany Law  purchased  from  the  government  in  1718  the 
monopoly  of  the  manufacture  of  tobacco  for  the  period  of 
nine  years. 

By  royal  edict,  the  property  and  commercial  privileges 
of  the  French  East  India  Company,  a  decrepit  concern 
which  owned  magnificent  franchises  and  did  not  know 
what  to  do  with  them,  were  transferred  to  Law's  company 
on  condition  that  all  outstanding  debts  of  the  East  India 
Company  should  be  paid. 

Thus  the  new  company,  in  addition  to  its  empire  in  the    A.D. 
West,  acquired  a  monopoly  of  Eastern  commerce.     Asia,        !i 
Africa,    and   the   islands   of  the  South  Seas,  as  well  as 
America,  were  to  be  tributaries  to  its  wealth.     No  wonder 
that  Law  was  dazzled  by  the  prospect.     Great  Britain  has 
since  reaped  where  he  sowed,  practised  what  he  preached, 


618  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

materialized  where  still  he  dreamed,  and  yet  his  vast 
scheme  is  usually  spoken  of  as  The  South  Sea  Bubble. 
The  impartial  historian,  not  fearing  to  honour  the  pioneers 
who  fail,  is  forced  to  say  that  France  lost  the  colonial  and 
commercial  leadership  of  the  world  by  not  following  up 
the  plans  of  the  despised  Scotchman,  John  Law. 

In  July,  1719,  the  government  sold  to  his  company,  at  a 
high  price,  the  privilege  of  coinage  for  nine  years,  and  also, 
in  August  of  the  same  year,  cancelled  its  contract  with  the 
farmers-general  of  the  taxes,  and  sold  the  privilege  of  col- 
lecting the  principal  taxes  to  Law  for  52,000,000  livres. 

As  a  climax  to  his  daring  ventures,  Law  now  proposed 
to  have  his  company  assume  the  entire  floating  debt  of 
the  bankrupt  monarchy,  offering  to  advance  1,500,000,000 
livres,  at  three  per  cent,  by  which  loan  the  king  would 
have  but  one  creditor.  The  government  eagerly  accepted 
the  offer. 

Let  us  look  into  the  status  of  this  wonderful  company. 

First,  it  was  the  sole  creator  of  the  currency  of  the 
kingdom  ;  second,  it  was  sole  manager  of  the  foreign 
trade  ;  third,  it  owned  the  tobacco  monopoly  and  the 
privilege  of  coinage  ;  fourth,  it  owned  a  vast  colonial 
empire  and  maintained  a  fleet  on  the  seas ;  fifth,  it  owned 
the  entire  national  debt ;  sixth,  it  was  the  sole  collector 
of  the  principal  taxes  of  the  kingdom  ;  seventh,  it  was 
the  embodied  public  credit  of  the  French  nation. 

To  get  the  money  to  pay  off  the  national  debt,  Law 
issued  bills  to  the  amount  of  1,500,000,000  livres. 

So  far  all  was  going  well.  The  shares  were  advancing, 
the  bank-notes  were  preferred  to  specie,  colonists  were 
being  settled  in  Louisiana,  twenty-one  ships  of  the  com- 
pany were  afloat,  produce  from  the  colony  was  coming  in, 


xxxvi  THE   REGENCY  619 

and  the  promise  of  a  steady  and  profitable  development 
of  the  business  was  good. 

Had  not  a  wild  craze  for  speculation  suddenly  broken 
out  and  carried  all  before  it,  John  Law's  company  would 
probably  have  added  as  much  to  the  grandeur  and  riches 
of  France  as  the  East  India  Company  brought  to  Great 
Britain. 

Law  himself  set  the  example  of  gambling  in  his  stocks. 

In  the  spring  of  1719  the  shares  were  quoted  at  300 
livres,  the  par  value  being  500.  To  stimulate  purchas- 
ers, he  made  a  contract  to  take  200  shares  at  par  in  six 
months  from  date,  and  deposited  40,000  livres  to  secure 
his  promise. 

The  effect  was  electrical.  Prices  at  once  boomed.  In 
May,  1719,  the  stock  was  quoted  at  par  ;  by  July  it  had 
jumped  to  1000  ;  in  September  to  5000  ;  in  November 
to  10,000.  From  these  prodigious  figures  they  still  rose, 
until  a  share  of  the  par  value  of  500  sold  for  12,000, 
15,000,  and  even  20,000  ! 

One  reason  why  such  a  tremendous  business  was  done 
in  these  stocks  was  that  they  were  purchasable  on  instal- 
ments. By  paying  the  premium  and  five  per  cent,  any 
one  could  subscribe.  Thus  the  market  was  broadened 
immensely. 

At  that  time  there  was  no  stock  exchange  in  France  or 
elsewhere.  Dealings  in  futures  and  on  margins  were 
unknown,  and  stock-jobbing  was  an  undiscovered  art. 
Instead  of  the  scene  which  to-day  can  be  witnessed  on 
the  floor  of  the  stock  exchange  of  a  thousand  cities,  curi- 
ous observers  saw  miscellaneous  mobs  gather  in  the  open 
street  in  front  of  Law's  bank  in  the  Rue  Quincampoix, 
and  fight  all  day  long  the  furious  battle  of  the  stocks. 


620  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

The  fever  of  speculation  raged  over  Paris  and  through- 
out France.  The  hunger  for  sudden  wealth  gnawed  at  the 
stomach  of  the  bootblack  and  the  duke,  the  milliner  and 
the  marchioness,  the  layman  and  the  priest,  the  commoner 
and  the  prince  of  the  blood.  Furious  crowds  pushed  and 
scrambled  in  the  mad  race.  The  aristocrat  met  the  peas- 
ant and  the  burgher  on  a  footing  of  literal  equality  in  the 
street,  all  distinctions  of  rank  levelled  by  the  greed  for 
gain,  and  that  money  has  no  master  was  seen  as  the 
French  people  had  not  seen  it  before. 

Fabulous  stories  were  told  of  fortunes  suddenly  made. 
The  widow  Chaumont  came  up  to  Paris  to  collect  a  certain 
claim,  the  loss  of  which  would  ruin  her.  She  was  offered 
payment  in  government  paper,  then  worth  less  than  half 
its  face  value.  In  despair,  she  took  it,  and  when  Law 
proposed  to  receive  this  paper  in  payment  for  his  shares, 
she  invested  it  all  in  his  company.  Three  years  later  she 
was  worth  100,000,000  francs.  The  Duke  of  Bourbon 
made  millions ;  so  did  the  Duke  of  Antin  and  the  Prince 
of  Conti.  A  valet  was  said  to  have  made  fifty  millions,  a 
bootblack  forty,  and  a  restaurant  waiter  thirty.  The 
word  millionnaire  first  came  into  use  during  these  days 
of  sudden  fortunes. 

A  cobbler  of  the  street  made  a  fortune  by  keeping 
writing  materials  in  his  shop  for  the  convenience  of  those 
who  wished  to  sign  transfers ;  a  hunchback  allowed 
himself  to  be  used  as  a  writing-desk,  and  became  rich 
from  the  presents  made  him  by  those  who  wrote  stock 
bargains  on  his  hump ;  a  soldier  with  a  very  broad  back 
earned  a  handsome  competence  in  the  same  way,  retired 
on  it,  and  lived  happily  ever  after. 

While  this  river  of  plenty  was  flowing,  Law  was  the 


xxxvi  THE   REGENCY  621 

most   conspicuous   and   admired   figure  in  Europe.     All 
France  was  at  his  feet. 

The  regent  received  him  as  one  of  the  royal  circle ; 
dukes  thronged  his  rooms ;  a  duchess  kissed  his  hand  in 
public ;  the  city  of  Edinburgh  sent  him  a  gold  box,  and 
voted  the  freedom  of  the  city  to  "  the  Honourable  John 
Law."  The  Chevalier  de  St.  George,  head  of  the  royal 
house  of  Stuart,  honoured  him  by  asking  for  a  gift  of 
money,  and  Law,  who  spent  his  money  like  a  prince  in  a 
fairy  tale,  granted  the  request. 

On  January  5,  1720,  he  was  appointed  comptroller-  A.D. 
general  of  the  kingdom  —  having  changed  his  religion  to  172° 
qualify  himself  for  the  place. 

In  July,  1719,  the  directors  of  the  company  had  declared 
that  a  dividend  of  twelve  per  cent  should  be  paid  on  the 
stock.  This  was  suicidal.  The  revenues  of  the  company 
did  not  warrant  any  such  dividend. 

In  December  the  stock  consisted  of  624,000  shares.  At 
the  subscription  price,  this  represented  312,000,000  livres, 
equal  to  $62,400,000.  Considering  the  colossal  assets  of 
the  company,  this  amount  of  stock  was  not  large.  Few 
railroad  companies  of  to-day  carry  a  lighter  burden  than 
that.  There  was  nothing  chimerical  in  hoping  that  divi- 
dends could  be  paid  upon  such  a  sum,  but  arbitrarily  to 
fix  a  dividend  of  twelve  per  cent,  without  regard  to  the 
earning  capacity  at  that  time,  was  manifestly  ruinous. 

The  only  profits  already  enjoyed  by  the  company  were 
some  millions  made  out  of  farming  the  taxes,  and  the 
three  per  cent  interest  on  the  loan  to  the  king. 

Had  a  dividend  to  this  extent  been  declared,  all  would 
have  been  well.  The  shares  would  have  shrunken  to 
their  true  value,  the  wild  fever  of  speculation  would 


622  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

have  subsided,  and  the  company's  progress  would  have 
been  one  of  gradual,  legitimate  growth.  But  when  the 
directors  voted  the  false  dividend,  the  wreck  of  the  com- 
pany was  only  a  question  of  time. 

A-D-  Not  satisfied  with  the  twelve  per  cent  dividend  which 
they  had  voted  at  the  July  meeting,  the  directors,  in 
December,  1719,  voted  that  the  annual  dividend  on  the 
stock  should  be  forty  per  cent. 

For  this  act  of  insanity  Law  himself  was  to  blame. 
He  seems  to  have  lost  his  head,  intoxicated  by  his  success. 
The  inflation  of  the  currency  and  the  sudden  access  of 
apparent  wealth  had  caused  prices  to  rise  fabulously. 
The  value  of  land,  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  of  wages,  and 
of  all  other  commodities,  had  more  than  doubled,  and  the 
wildest  extravagance  marked  the  expenditures  of  those 
who  had  grown  so  unexpectedly  rich.  Easy  come,  easy 
go,  was  the  fashion.  A  lucky  landscape  painter  bought 
the  diamonds  which  the  king  of  Portugal  had  ordered, 
the  monarch  being  short  of  cash  and  the  painter  being 
suddenly  burdened  with  money.  A  speculator,  having 
just  won  50,000  livres,  gave  200  for  a  pullet  for  his  dinner. 
At  the  chateau  of  the  widow  Chaurnont,  —  she  who  had 
been  so  poor  a  little  while  before,  —  it  required,  every  day, 
an  ox,  two  calves,  six  sheep,  and  fowls  without  number,  to 
feast  her  friends  and  servants.  The  lucky  painter  who 
had  bought  the  diamonds  intended  for  a  king,  lived  in  a 
chateau  of  his  own,  kept  eighty  horses  in  his  stables,  had 
ninety  servants  to  wait  upon  him,  and  allowed  only  gold 
and  silver  plate  to  be  seen  upon  his  table.  While  this 
wild  revel  was  at  its  height,  there  were  long-headed  invest- 
ors in  Law's  stocks  who  began  to  sell  out  and  to  reinvest 
their  money  in  lands,  houses,  plate,  and  precious  stones. 


xxxvl  THE  REGENCY  623 

The  natural  consequence  was  that  the  prices  of   the    A-D- 
shares  began  to  fall. 

Still,  the  decline  was  very  gradual,  and  Law  should 
have  let  it  alone.  Instead  of  that,  however,  he  began  to 
resort  to  violent  legislation  to  check  the  depreciation,  and 
thus  hastened  the  retreat  into  a  rout.  By  royal  edict  he 
deprived  people  of  the  right  to  invest  in  gold  or  silver 
plate,  diamonds  or  other  jewels,  while  payments  in  specie 
were  limited  by  law  to  sums  of  100  francs. 

Citizens  were  forbidden  to  hoard  silver  and  gold,  and 
were  commanded  to  put  it  in  circulation.  The  police 
were  required  to  search  suspected  houses  for  hidden 
specie. 

Heavy  penalties  were  prescribed  for  those  who  should 
keep  more  than  500  livres  of  gold  and  silver  on  hand,  and 
rewards  were  offered  to  informers  in  order  to  induce  ser- 
vants to  betray  their  masters  and  members  of  a  family  to 
report  on  each  other. 

This  insane  law  was  actually  put  in  force.  The  officers 
of  the  law,  led  by  informers,  entered  houses,  tore  up  floors, 
broke  into  walls,  ransacked  garrets,  and  dug  up  gardens, 
in  search  of  hidden  treasure.  In  many  instances  they 
found  it,  as  treacherous  relatives  or  servants  usually  knew 
where  the  money  was  concealed. 

What  made  this  law  the  more  odious  was  its  partiality 
to  the  privileged  classes.  The  Prince  of  Conti  had  car- 
ried three  cart-loads  of  specie  from  the  bank,  and  was 
largely  responsible  for  the  run  on  it,  but  the  officers  made 
no  earnest  effort  to  search  his  palace,  and  he  kept  his  gold. 
The  Duke  of  Bourbon  insolently  refused  to  return  his, 
and  defied  the  regent  to  find  it.  It  was  not  found. 

To  make  matters  still  worse,  Law  now  secured  a  royal 


624  THE    STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

edict  demonetizing  both  gold  and  silver,  and  making 
paper  the  sole  legal  tender.  Where  the  government  is 
bankrupt,  has  no  credit,  changes  its  laws  every  month, 
and  repudiates  debts  at  its  pleasure,  even  a  legal-tender 
act  will  not  save  paper  money  from  a  panic  which  is 
already  in  full  career. 

Not  yet  content,  the  company  indulged  in  one  more 
destructive  expedient,  —  it  went  to  buying  its  own  stock 
for  the  purpose  of  supporting  the  market. 

In  addition  to  this,  the  price  of  the  shares  was  fixed 
by  law  at  9000  livres.  The  bank  agreed  to  sell  or  buy 
at  that  price  —  the  bank  having  now  been  consolidated 
with  the  company. 

As  the  market  was  still  falling,  holders  of  the  stock 
rushed  to  the  bank  to  sell,  at  9000  livres,  the  shares  for 
which  they  had  paid  the  bank  from  500  to  5000  livres. 

To  pay  for  these  shares,  the  bank  was  obliged  to  issue 
more  notes.  The  printing-press  was  kept  busy.  Such 
an  inflation  of  the  currency  was  never  before  known. 
Prices  rose  as  the  volume  of  paper  money  increased. 
Confidence  was  gone. 

A.I>.  Then  came  the  famous  edict  of  May  21,  1720.  It  was 
1720  enacted  that  there  should  be  a  gradual  contraction  of  the 
paper  currency,  and  a  corresponding  decrease  in  the  fixed 
price  of  the  shares.  For  instance,  a  bank-bill  which  repre- 
sented 100  livres  on  May  21,  should  be  worth  only  eighty 
on  the  22d,  and  should  suffer  successive  reductions,  until 
on  the  1st  of  December  it  would  represent  but  fifty  livres. 

Now,  as  the  price  of  the  shares  was  to  be  correspond- 
ingly and  simultaneously  reduced  as  the  value  of  the 
notes  diminished,  this  royal  mandate  really  injured  no 
one.  It  was  a  clumsy  way  to  contract  a  currency  which 


xxxvi  THE  REGENCY  625 

sorely  needed  contracting.  Paper  money  is  a  good  thing, 
as  rain  is ;  but  it  is  possible  to  have  too  much  paper 
money,  just  as  it  is  possible  to  get  a  calamitous  overplus 
of  rain. 

To  the  public,  the  edict  of  May  21  meant  repudiation. 
The  citizen  who  had  a  note  of  100  francs  understood  that 
in  six  months  from  that  day  he  would  have  a  note  for  only 
fifty.  That  was  all  he  understood  about  it,  and  the  prop- 
osition was,  to  him,  extremely  distasteful.  He  saw  half 
his  money  gone  at  one  stroke  of  the  royal  pen.  He  made 
a  great  outcry,  —  so  great  that  the  edict  was  rescinded  six 
days  after  it  had  been  published,  but  its  fatal  work  was 
done.  Law  and  all  his  schemes  were  doomed.  In  vain 
he  secured  the  repeal  of  the  various  edicts  which  had 
hastened  his  ruin.  It  was  too  late. 

The  run  on  the  bank  had  become  a  crush,  a  murderous 
struggle  for  precedence.  Lives  were  lost  in  the  mob,  and 
then  riots  broke  out.  Furious  crowds  beset  the  palace  of 
the  king,  exposing,  as  a  reproach  to  the  wicked  rulers  of 
a  wretched  people,  the  body  of  one  of  the  fifteen  women 
who  had  been  crushed  to  death  in  the  street  while  waiting 
to  get  her  bank-note  redeemed.  Law  himself  had  to 
remain  in  hiding,  for  the  mob  would  have  torn  him  in 
pieces  —  the  same  mob  which  formerly  had  fawned  at  his 
feet. 

A  revolution  was  narrowly  avoided.  Soft  words  and 
soothing  measures  turned  away  the  danger  ;  besides,  the 
mob  had  no  leader,  and  the  troops  were  as  yet  blindly 
loyal  to  the  king.  Specie  payments  were  suspended,  and 
a  death-blow  given  to  Law's  system,  by  the  edict  of  Octo- 
ber 10,  1720,  which  enacted  that  after  November  1  the 
notes  of  the  bank  should  no  longer  be  used  as  currency  ; 
2s 


626  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

contracts  were  to  be  discharged  and  payments  made  in 
gold  and  silver. 
A-D-        In  November  the  stock  of  the  company  reached  its  low- 

1720 

est   figure.      Shares   sold   for  2000,   in  paper  worth  ten 

cents  in  the  dollar.  A  gold  louis,  equivalent  to  about 
nine  dollars  now,  bought  a  share  which  had  sold  for 
$4000  a  year  before. 

Those  who  bought  at  this  time  realized  a  handsome 
profit,  for  the  commercial  company  continued  business 
till  1769,  enjoying  at  times  a  degree  of  prosperity  which 
caused  the  shares  to  advance  to  3000  livres.  It  died 
when  Louis  XV.  and  Madame  de  Pompadour  allowed 
the  colonial  empire  of  France  to  melt  away. 

The  bank  passed  out  of  existence,  to  be  succeeded 
nearly  a  century  later  by  the  present  Bank  of  France. 
Law  fled  before  the  storm,  and  settled  in  Venice,  where 
he  died,  poor  and  broken-hearted,  in  1729.  The  govern- 
ment had  confiscated  his  property,  and  the  dukes  and 
princes  who  had  destroyed  his  career  by  forcing  issue  after 
issue  of  paper  money  and  by  hauling  cart-loads  of  gold 
away  from  his  bank,  left  him  to  die  in  neglect  and  poverty. 

The  huge  task  of  winding  up  the  affairs  of  his  enter- 
prise now  remained.  The  bank  and  the  Company  of  the 
Indies  were  government  concerns,  and  the  government 
had  to  take  charge  of  the  wreck,  which  it  did  with  char- 
acteristic injustice  and  dishonesty. 

A  board  of  revision  was  appointed,  and  holders  of  the 
shares  and  notes  were  required  to  deposit  them  with  this 
board,  as  well  as  a  statement  of  the  manner  in  which 
they  had  been  obtained.  Five  hundred  and  eleven  thou- 
sand persons  deposited  notes  and  contracts  to  the  amount 
of  2,200,000,000  livres,  and  125,000  shares  in  the  Com- 


xxxvi  THE  REGENCY  627 

pany  of  the  Indies.  All  those  which  were  not  deposited 
were  declared  null  and  void. 

The  board  of  revision  then  went  to  work  to  reduce  the 
king's  liabilities,  and  by  an  arbitrary  and  tyrannical 
repudiation  of  part  of  the  debt  they  scaled  it  down  to 
$1,700,000,000. 

This  sum  was  funded  in  notes  bearing  two  and  one-half 
per  cent  interest,  and  in  annuities  at  four  per  cent. 

Thus,  after  all  was  said  and  done,  the  national  debt, 
and  the  interest  thereon,  was  less  than  it  had  been  before 
Law  assumed  the  burden. 

The  government  then  levied  fines  upon  the  millionaires, 
punishing  them  apparently  for  no  reason  except  that  they 
had  been  lucky.  The  widow  Chaumont,  for  instance, 
was  compelled  to  pay  a  fine  of  8,000,000  livres.  Others 
paid  in  proportion  to  their  gains,  and  altogether  these 
penalties  amounted  to  187,000,000  livres.  It  was  robbery 
under  forms  of  law. 

Again  the  privileged  classes  were  exempted.  No 
greedier  speculators  had  appeared  in  the  famous  Rue 
Quincampoix  than  the  princes,  dukes,  and  marquises  of 
the  old  regime.  The  regent  himself  had  made  his  mil- 
lions out  of  Law's  shares.  But  on  the  list  of  those  who 
were  fined  for  having  speculated  successfully  the  name  of 
no  person  of  rank  appears. 

As  to  the  Company  of  the  Indies,  the  125,000  shares 
were  reduced  to  56,000.  The  privileges  of  coinage  and 
of  farming  the  taxes  were  taken  away  from  it.  The 
monopoly  of  the  tobacco  trade  was  not  disturbed,  and 
it  was  allowed  to  keep  its  trading  privileges.  Curtailed  to 
these  modest  dimensions,  the  company  lived  and  pros- 
pered until  1769,  as  already  stated. 


628  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

The  more  the  system  of  Law  is  studied,  the  less  ex- 
travagant it  will  appear.  His  bank  was  organized  upon 
precisely  the  same  principles  which  bring  prosperity  to 
the  banks  of  our  own  time.  Its  notes  were  payable  in 
coin,  the  issue  was  strictly  limited,  and  its  management 
was  conservative  and  sagacious.  It  was  only  when  the 
government  took  charge  of  it,  and  the  rapacity  of  the 
spendthrift  nobles  had  to  be  gratified,  that  every  pru- 
dential barrier  to  the  issue  of  notes  was  broken  down. 

The  notes  which  overflowed  the  channels  of  trade,  ex- 
ceeding all  demands  of  business,  were  issued  in  violation 
of  Law's  instructions,  in  defiance  of  his  protests.  He 
was  powerless.  The  government  had  control  of  the  bank, 
and  a  lot  of  reckless  profligates  had  control  of  the  gov- 
ernment. The  regency  was  another  reign  of  Sardana- 
palus.  Aladdin's  lamp  could  not  have  furnished  enough 
gold  for  such  a  crew.  It  was  a  mad  revel  of  dissolute 
men  and  abandoned  women,  the  like  of  which  had  not 
been  seen  since  the  days  of  Nero  and  Heliogabalus. 

It  may  be  said  that  where  the  government  exercises 
the  power  of  creating  money,  it  will  always  create  too 
much.  This  is  equivalent  to  saying  that  governments 
are  not  fit  to  govern.  If  the  government  is  to  be  in- 
trusted with  the  power  to  decide  how  many  soldiers  shall 
compose  the  army,  how  many  vessels  shall  constitute 
the  navy,  how  many  harbours,  forts,  custom-houses,  post- 
offices,  signal-stations,  lighthouses,  and  dockyards  there 
shall  be,  why  can  it  not  be  intrusted  with  the  power  of 
deciding  how  much  money  there  shall  be? 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  John  Law's  theory  of  credit  money 
has  been  the  salvation  of  the  very  nations  which  revile 
his  name. 


xxxvi  THE   REGENCY  629 

Paper  money  carried  England  successfully  through 
the  fiery  furnace  of  the  Napoleonic  struggle;  paper 
money  carried  these  United  States  triumphantly  through 
the  great  Civil  War ;  and  paper  money  lifted  the  indus- 
tries of  France  out  of  the  dust  into  which  the  iron  legions 
of  Germany  had  trampled  them  in  the  year  1870. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  Law  was  one  of  the 
fathers  of  modern  commerce. 

He  emancipated  business  from  the  rigid  trammels  of 
cash,  and  called  into  life  public  credit.  He  put  an  end 
to  the  system  under  which  merchants  went  about  from 
market  to  market  with  bags  of  specie,  limiting  their  deal- 
ings to  that  narrow  basis.  He  pushed  outwards  the 
frontiers  of  enterprise,  enlarged  the  boundaries  of  en- 
deavour, quickened  the  spirit  of  commercial  adventure, 
and  opened  new  routes  to  fortune. 

In  the  issuing  of  shares  against  the  Louisiana  property, 
we  see  the  embryo  of  the  modern  system  of  railroad, 
mining,  and  canal  stocks,  and  their  numerous  progeny. 

In  his  purchase  of  shares  for  future  delivery,  we  see 
the  germ  of  the  modern  system  of  dealing  on  margins. 
In  the  promiscuous  crowd  which  gathered  in  front  of  his 
bank  to  gamble  in  his  shares,  we  see  the  beginning  of  the 
modern  stock  exchange.  In  his  vast  reach  of  commer- 
cial purpose  and  his  splendid  dreams  of  unbounded 
wealth,  we  see  the  forerunner  of  that  wonderful  spirit  of 
modern  enterprise  which  has  made  the  merchant  prince 
a  reality,  and  has  given  to  syndicates  of  private  persons 
wealth  such  as  no  Croasus  ever  possessed,  and  revenues 
surpassing  those  of  emperors  or  kings. 

What  Napoleon  did  in  the  civil  and  military  service  of 
France,  Law  did  in  the  business  world.  The  way  was 


630  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP,  xxxvi 

opened  to  him  who  could  walk  therein.  The  halo  of 
caste  was  gone.  The  widow  Chaumont  could  win  more 
money  in  stock  gambling  than  the  Duke  of  Bourbon  ; 
the  lucky  painter  could  outbid  a  luckless  king  and  live 
in  a  luxury  the  king  might  envy.  Servants  grew  richer 
than  their  masters ;  the  commons  were  quicker  at  good 
bargains  than  the  aristocrats.  In  the  hurly-burly  of 
speculation,  in  the  hand-to-hand  fight  for  sudden  riches, 
the  bourgeois  had  met  the  noble  and  had  worsted  him. 

Hence  Law,  without  knowing  it  perhaps,  had  done  a 
notable  work  in  France.  He  had  pretty  effectually  re- 
distributed the  floating  wealth.  Thousands  were  beg- 
gared who  long  had  been  rich,  while  thousands  were 
enriched  who  long  had  been  beggars. 

He  also  made  war  upon  the  internal  tariffs  of  France, 
and  had  them  removed.  He  cheapened  the  necessaries  of 
life  in  Paris  by  abolishing  certain  unjust  taxes  which 
hampered  trade  and  increased  prices ;  and  he  advocated 
good  roads,  which  at  that  time  were  grievously  needed. 
His  plans  were  carried  out  later  in  the  reign. 

Law's  great  offence  was  that  he  was  in  advance  of  his 
age.  He  paid  the  usual  penalty. 


CHAPTER   XXXVII 

LOUIS  THE   FIFTEENTH 

rFHE  foreign  policy  of  the   regency   was   directed  by 
Cardinal  Dubois.    It  is  said  that  he  owed  his  appoint- 
ment to  English  influence,  and  that  he  was  in  the  pay  of 
that  power.      His   policy   was    certainly   all   that    Eng- 
land  could  have   asked.      By  the    Triple   Alliance  be- 
tween France,  England,  and  Holland,  the  regent  agreed 
to  expel  the  Stuart  Pretender,  to  destroy  the  naval  works 
at  Mardyck,  fill  up  the  port  of  Dunkirk,  to  withdraw  from    A.D. 
the  commerce  of  the  South  Seas,  and  to  form  a  defensive   1717 
alliance  between  England  and  France. 

The  Triple  Alliance  was  aimed  chiefly  at  Spain,  upon 
whose  throne  tremulously  sat  Philip  V.,  for  whose  eleva- 
tion Louis  XIV.  had  so  lavishly  poured  out  the  blood  and 
the  treasure  of  France. 

Philip  was  governed  by  his  wife,  and  his  wife  was 
governed  by  a  priest.  Cardinal  Alberoni  was  at  this  time 
the  virtual  ruler  of  Spain.  Possessed  of  considerable 
ability,  he  made  the  mistake  of  believing  that  he  was 
another  Richelieu.  He  undertook  to  revive  Spain  com- 
mercially, agriculturally,  and  politically.  He  formed  vast 
plans  of  foreign  aggrandizement.  He  plotted  to  hurl  the 
regent  from  his  high  place  in  France,  and  schemed  to 
restore  the  Stuarts  to  the  throne  of  England. 

In  France  his  hopes  were  set  upon  the  Duke  of  Maine ; 

631 


632  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

while  against  England  he  proposed  to  send  a  Stuart 
expedition  commanded  by  Charles  XII.  of  Sweden. 

These  fine   plans   miscarried.     Dubois   soon  knew  all 
about  the  plot  with  the  Duke  of  Maine,  and  at  the  proper 
time  easily  crushed  it. 
A.D.        Without  waiting  to  declare  war,  England  attacked  the 

1718  Spanish   fleet   on   the   coast   of   Sicily,  and   defeated   it. 
and 

1719  Another  Spanish  fleet,  which  was  intended  to  carry  the 

Stuart  Pretender  to  Scotland,  was  destroyed  by  a  tempest. 
The  English  took  Vigo,  and  the  French  army,  under  the 
Duke  of  Berwick,  invaded  Spain. 

Alberoni  collapsed,  fled  to  Rome,  and  Spain  came  to 
terms. 

In  this  war  Austria  had  acted  with  the  Triple  Alliance. 
As  a  result,  she  strengthened  her  control  over  Italy,  while 
England  established  her  empire  over  the  ocean.  France 
had  spent  millions,  and  won  nothing,  not  even  "  glory." 

In  May,  1717,  Peter  the  Great,  czar  of  Russia,  visited 
Paris  to  solicit  a  treaty  with  France.  A  few  years  before 
this  he  had  wished  to  visit  France,  but  Louis  XIV.  had 
declined  to  receive  him.  Russia  then  was  not  a  member 
of  the  European  family  of  nations.  She  was  regarded  as 
barbarous,  and  her  people  as  little  better  than  savages. 

The  regent,  while  refusing  the  Russian  alliance  which 
the  czar  offered,  gave  him  a  royal  reception,  and  lodged 
him  in  the  palace  of  Versailles. 

Peter  the  Great  was  a  magnificent  savage,  an  en- 
larged and  somewhat  modernized  edition  of  Alaric,  and 
he  created  an  immense  sensation  in  effeminate  Parisian 
circles. 

His  fondness  for  soap  and  water  was  undeveloped,  his 
ideas  of  etiquette  aboriginal.  He  rode  about  the  streets 


xxxvn  LOUIS  THE  FIFTEENTH  633 

in  a  common  cab,  examined  everything  that  excited  his 
curiosity,  and  talked  with  every  one  who  could  teach  him 
anything  useful.  Having  spent  the  day  in  this  laborious 
routine,  he  and  his  royal  followers  would  gather  up  a  lot 
of  scarlet  women,  carry  them  to  Versailles,  and  spend 
the  night  in  boisterous  revelry,  profaning  the  sanctuaries 
which  had  been  dedicated  to  the  Pompadours  and  Main- 
tenons —  to  the  intense  scandal  of  the  high-born  and 
licentious  ladies  who  ministered  to  the  regent  and  his 
friends. 

Although  Peter  was  a  glutton,  a  drunkard,  and  a  liber- 
tine, he  was  a  tremendous  worker,  bending  all  the  strength 
of  a  powerful  creative  genius  to  the  herculean  task  of 
making  a  mighty  nation  out  of  the  unwieldy  Russian 
hordes.  What  he  saw  in  France  of  the  folly  and  frippery 
and  imbecility  of  the  ruling  classes  filled  him  with  disgust, 
and  he  boldly  prophesied  their  downfall. 

The  profusion  with  which  the  regent  squandered  the 
money  of  the  people  upon  his  favourites  was  unexampled. 

Upon  the  favoured  few  the  treasures  of  the  kingdom 
were  literally  showered,  and  this  at  a  time  when  the 
masses  of  the  people  groaned  under  the  burdens  of  taxa- 
tion and  the  public  creditors  clamoured  in  vain  for  pay- 
ment. 

It  was  this  brood  of  cormorants  which  devoured  Law's 
bank  and  kept  the  public  treasury  cleaned  out,  while 
French  soldiers  in  Canada  and  India  Avere  left  unpaid 
and  unsupplied.  It  was  this  nest  of  vultures  which 
picked  the  bones  of  the  monarchy  until  they  were  bare 
and  bleaching. 

The  regent  gave  100,000  crowns  for  the  favours  of  Ma- 
dame d'Averne,  and  he  gave  2,000,000  livres  for  a  dia- 


634  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

mond.  The  woman  he  bought  for  himself  ;  the  diamond 
he  bought  for  the  nation ;  the  nation  paid  for  both. 

At  no  time  in  the  history  of  the  world  did  national 
morals  reach  a  lower  ebb  than  during  the  regency. 
Among  the  upper  classes  all  decency  was  thrown  aside. 
As  one  historian  remarks,  "  Vice  paraded  itself  with  flags 
flying  and  trumpets  blowing,"  and  "no  longer  paid  to 
virtue  the  tribute  of  hypocrisy."  Having  no  taste  and  no 
capacity  for  any  useful  occupation  under  the  sun,  the 
lives  of  the  nobles  were  devoted  to  pleasure,  and  by 
natural  evolution  pleasure  degenerated  into  bestialities. 

The  mother  of  the  regent  wrote  that  "  among  people 
of  quality  I  do  not  know  a  single  example  of  mutual  affec- 
tion and  fidelity  "  among  married  folk. 

"I  confess  to  you,"  wrote  Madame  de  Maintenon, 
"  that  the  women  of  this  period  are  insupportable  to  me  ; 
their  senseless  and  immodest  dress,  their  tobacco,  their 
wine,  their  gluttony,  their  slothfulness,  all  this  I  cannot 
suffer." 

In  this  degrading  race  the  regent  and  his  daughter,  the 
Duchess  of  Berry,  led  the  rush,  and  their  brazen  immo- 
ralities disdained  and  defied  all  concealment. 

The  famous  "little  suppers"  of  the  regency  will  be 
remembered  long  after  his  Triple  Alliance  shall  have 
been  forgotten.  Every  night  during  the  eight  years  of 
his  administration  the  regent  gave  himself  up  absolutely 
to  sensual  indulgence.  During  the  mornings  and  the 
afternoons  he  received  audiences,  signed  papers,  gave 
instructions,  attended  councils,  conferred  with  the  min- 
isters, or  visited  the  king.  By  five  or  six  in  the  evening 
the  work  of  the  day  was  done,  business  was  banished,  and 
the  doors  closed.  After  state  affairs  were  dismissed  for 


xxxvn  LOUIS  THE  FIFTEENTH  635 

the  day,  the  regent  could  not  be  seen  on  business,  no 
matter  who  came.  Pestilence  might  rage,  foreign  war 
blaze,  domestic  insurrection  .threaten,  but  the  regent  could 
not  be  reached  till  next  morning. 

In  the  inner  recesses  of  the  Palais  Royal,  the  palace 
built  by  Cardinal  Richelieu,  sat  the  regent,  surrounded 
by  a  select  circle  of  men  of  wit,  gay  libertines  who  mocked 
at  all  the  virtues,  and  an  equal  number  of  women  who 
were  beautiful,  young,  winning,  and  shameless.  The 
regent  himself  was  the  most  dissolute  of  the  men,  his 
daughter  the  most  abandoned  of  the  women.  Father 
and  daughter  revelled  in  company.  Ceremony  was  laid 
aside,  and  clothing  discarded ;  no  servants  were  allowed 
to  be  present ;  the  noble  guests  served  one  another. 
Ribald  jests  flew  from  mouth  to  mouth;  lewd  stories, 
obscene  songs,  blasphemous  scoffings. 

At  one  of  these  little  suppers  the  "  Judgment  of 
Paris"  was  rehearsed.  The  regent's  daughter  took  the 
part  of  Venus  ;  Madame  de  Parabere  represented  Juno, 
and  Madame  d'Averne  Minerva.  The  women  were  nude. 

Throughout  society  religion  was  scoffed  at,  virtue  de- 
rided, and  senseless  extravagance  seized  upon  the  nobility, 
almost  without  exception.  Gambling,  drunkenness,  glut- 
tony, sensuality  of  every  sort,  boldly  faced  down  criticism, 
browbeat  propriety,  and  made  old-fashioned  decency 
ashamed  of  itself. 

Cardinal  Dubois,  who  knew  nothing  of  Church  affairs, 
and  who  had  bought  the  red  hat  for  8,000,000  livres, 
ruled  while  the  nobles  beggared  and  abased  themselves. 
But  for  the  clear  head  and  tireless  hands  of  this  meanly 
born  upstart,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  government 
could  have  gone  on  at  all. 


636  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

A-D>  He  died  in  August,  1723,  and  in  less  than  four  months 
the  regent,  while  jesting  with  one  of  his  mistresses,  was 
stricken  with  apoplexy  and  died  at  once. 

Louis  XV.  had  already  been  crowned  at  Rheims,  and 
his  legal  majority  declared.  He  was  now  in  his  four- 
teenth year,  and  was  exceedingly  handsome,  but  cold, 
indifferent,  shy,  and  mentally  sluggish. 

The  Duke  of  Bourbon  succeeded  the  regent,  and  be- 
came prime  minister.  He  was  a  haughty,  avaricious, 
narrow-minded  man,  totally  unfitted  for  the  place.  His 
mistress,  Madame  de  Prie,  governed  him  absolutely  ;  but 
she  had  the  good  sense  to  realize  Bourbon's  incompetency, 
and  she  called  to  the  administration  of  affairs  a  banker 
and  tax-farmer  named  Paris  Duvernay.  He  was  the 
youngest  of  four  brothers,  who,  from  poverty  and  obscu- 
rity, had  risen,  through  the  purlieus  of  administrative 
corruption,  to  influence  and  wealth. 

The  earliest  edicts  promulgated  by  this  new  ministry 
were  worthy  of  the  regent  himself.  The  legal  value  of 
the  currency  was  reduced  one-half,  and  the  interest  on  the 
public  debt  reduced  to  three  and  one-third  per  cent. 
Workmen  refused  to  work  for  half  wages,  and  shop- 
keepers declined  to  lower  their  prices.  Bourbon  filled 
the  prisons  with  artisans  and  walled  up  the  shops  of  the 
recalcitrant  dealers.  Great  confusion  ensued,  and  the 
clamour  was  so  general  and  so  loud  that  the  odious  laws 
were  repealed. 

The  people  were  compelled,  however,  to  pay  an  extraor- 
dinary tax  of  23,000,000  livres,  called  the  tax  of  the 
joyous  accession,  as  a  proof  of  their  delight  at  the 
coronation  of  their  young  monarch,  Louis  XV.  This 
tax  was  never  again  levied. 


xxxvn  LOUIS  THE  FIFTEENTH  637 

Bourbon  also  exacted  a  tax  of  two  per  cent  upon  all 
the  productions  of  the  soil  and  upon  incomes. 

To  gain  the  ardent  support  of  the  Church,  Bourbon  re- 
kindled the  smouldering  embers  of  religious  persecution. 
Protestants  were  virtually  outlawed  and  rewards  offered 
for  their  destruction.  Marriages  between  Calvinists 
were  denounced  as  illegal,  the  abduction  of  their  chil- 
dren encouraged,  the  seizing  of  their  property  made  easy, 
and  the  punishment  of  death  or  the  hideous  slavery  of 
the  galleys  inflicted  upon  Protestants  who  preached, 
listened  to  preaching,  or  harboured  the  wretched  victims 
of  religious  hatred. 

One  man  seventy  years  old  was  sent  to  the  galleys  for 
life  for  having  attended  a  Protestant  service.  In  1759, 
a  man  eighty-three  years  old  was  still  in  the  galleys, 
where  he  had  passed  twenty-five  years  as  a  punishment  for 
the  crime  of  having  furnished  shelter  to  a  Protestant 
pastor.  A  woman  was  sentenced  to  three  years'  imprison- 
ment and  a  fine  of  6000  livres  for  having  spoken  words  of 
encouragement  to  a  Protestant  on  his  death-bed. 

At  Aigues-Mortes  some  women  were  confined  in  the 
tower  of  Constance,  a  dark,  dismal  turret,  whose  walls 
were  eighteen  feet  thick  and  rose  to  a  height  of  110 
feet.  There  were  only  two  rooms,  one  above  the  other, 
and  in  these  desolate  vaults  the  women  were  buried  alive. 
Their  crime  was  that  they  had  attended  the  Protestant 
service.  In  1768,  it  so  happened  that  the  Prince  of 
Beauvau  and  the  Chevalier  de  Boufflers  visited  these 
prisons,  and  were  touched  with  pity  by  what  they  saw. 

Writing  an  account  of  it,  the  chevalier  says  :  "  We  saw 
a  great  hall,  without  light  or  air,  and  within  it  fourteen 
women  languishing  in  misery  and  tears.  The  comman- 


'  638  THE   STOfcY  OF  FRANCE 

dant,  Beauvau,  could  not  contain  his  emotion.  For  the 
first  time  these  unhappy  creatures  saw  compassion  on  a 
human  face.  They  fell  at  his  feet,  bathed  them  in  tears, 
and  told  of  their  sufferings.  Alas  !  their  only  crime  was 
to  have  been  bred  in  the  same  faith  as  Henry  IV.  The 
youngest  of  these  martyrs  was  over  fifty  years  of  age." 

Beauvau  released  these  miserable  old  women,  and  was 
censured  for  it  by  the  government  and  denounced  by 
the  clergy. 

The  Regent  Orleans  had  arranged  a  marriage  between 
Louis  XV.  and  the  daughter  of  Philip  V.  of  Spain.  The 
young  princess  had  been  sent  to  Paris  to  be  brought  up, 
but  Bourbon  broke  off  the  match,  sent  the  girl  back  to 
A.D.  her  father,  and  married  the  French  king  to  the  poorest, 
ugliest,  and  humblest  of  all  the  eligible  princesses  of 
Europe,  —  Maria  Leczinska,  the  daughter  of  a  Polish 
king  who  had  been  chased  out  of  his  kingdom,  and  was 
now  living  on  a  French  pension.  When  the  courier 
brought  the  news  of  the  proposed  marriage  to  Maria  and 
her  father,  they  immediately  fell  upon  their  knees  and 
poured  out  thanks  to  God. 

As  for  the  king  of  Spain,  he  poured  out  no  thanks. 
He  was  angry,  honestly  and  furiously  angry.  He  be- 
lieved that  Bourbon  had  put  this  affront  upon  his  daughter 
because  he,  Philip  V.,  had  refused  to  ennoble  the  hus- 
band of  the  De  Prie  woman. 

"This  one-eyed  scoundrel,"  said  the  Spanish  queen, 
alluding  to  Bourbon,  "  has  sent  our  daughter  back  because 
the  king  would  not  create  the  husband  of  his  harlot  a 
grandee  of  Spain." 

Two  princesses  of  the  royal  House  of  France,  one  of 
them  the  widowed  daughter-in-law  of  Philip,  were  im- 


xxxvn  LOUIS  THE  FIFTEENTH  639 

mediately  expelled  from  Spain,  and  Philip  V.,  renouncing 
the  French  alliance,  entered  into  a  treaty  with  Austria. 

By  this  time,  however  (1725),  there  was  not  only  a 
popular  outcry  against  Bourbon,  but  Fleury,  the  king's 
preceptor,  turned  upon  him.  The  young  monarch  sided 
with  Fleury,  dismissed  Bourbon,  banished  the  De  Prie, 
and  put  Paris  Duvernay  in  the  Bastille. 

Thus  terminated  the  ten  years  during  which  Louis  XV. 
had  been  under  the  guardianship  of  the  two  collateral 
branches  of  the  royal  house,  Orleans  and  Bourbon. 
During  this  period  some  beneficial  changes  had  been 
made.  The  national  militia  had  been  organized,  barracks 
built,  and  the  quartering  of  troops  in  the  dwellings  of 
citizens  discontinued.  The  system  of  roads  for  which 
France  became  so  noted  was  adopted  and  carried  out 
gradually  by  forced  labour  of  the  peasants. 

The  first  of  these  paved  roads  was  that  from  Paris  to 
Rheims,  made  for  the  coronation  of  Louis  XV.  Schools 
were  encouraged  and  learning  fostered.  The  introduc- 
tion of  Freemasonry  in  France  also  dates  from  this 
period. 

In  1724,  the  Bourse  of  Paris  was  organized  and  licensed. 
This  was  the  first  of  the  modern  stock  exchanges,  and 
was  a  legitimate  result  of  the  new  life  which  Law  had 
put  into  the  business  world. 

Prompted  by  Fleury,  Louis  XV.  announced  that  hence- 
forth he  would  be  his  own  prime  minister.  This  state- 
ment probably  deceived  no  one,  not  even  the  king  himself, 
for  every  one  knew  that  Fleury  was  now  become  the  prime 
minister  and  the  real  ruler. 

Louis  XV.  was  not  wanting  in  mental  qualities.  His 
intelligence  was  of  a  high  order,  his  judgment  was  good, 


640  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

his  information  extensive.  He  seems  to  have  thoroughly 
understood  the  system  of  government  of  which  he  was 
the  head.  He  could  be  very  firm,  even  immovable.  He 
was  rarely  deceived  by  those  who  surrounded  him.  He 
saw  through  them  all.  But  Louis  was  one  of  those  mor- 
tals who  are  born  listless,  callous,  indolent,  and  selfish. 
He  was  tired  of  his  position  from  the  first,  and  it  was  im- 
possible to  arouse  his  interest  in  anything  connected  with 
his  office.  He  had  no  power  of  initiative,  no  purpose  in 
living,  no  attachment  to  anything  or  anybody.  He  neither 
loved  nor  hated.  He  was  as  utterly  apathetic  as  it  was 
possible  for  a  human  being  to  be. 

Stories  are  told  of  his  cruelty  in  early  life,  but  the 
truth  seems  to  be  that  Louis  XV.  was  not  a  revengeful, 
malicious,  or  cruel  man ;  he  was  only  indifferent  to  the 
sufferings  of  others,  just  as  he  was  indifferent  about  all 
things. 

He  allowed  people  to  manage  the  government,  and  to 
steer  him  first  one  way  and  then  another,  but  his  compli- 
ance was  not  the  result  of  stupidity.  All  he  demanded 
was  a  good  easy  time  for  himself ;  he  cared  nothing  for 
others. 

He  allowed  the  Duke  of  Richelieu  to  plunge  him  into 
vice  after  he  had  reached  a  decorous  middle  age,  but  he 
seems  to  have  yielded  as  much  from  curiosity  and  the 
craving  for  novelty  as  from  anything  else.  He  under- 
stood Richelieu  as  well  as  the  keenest  moralist  understood 
him,  and  laughed  at  him  when  he  assumed  the  role  of  a 
conquering  military  hero. 

In  his  relations  with  his  family,  —  his  wife,  son,  and 
daughters,  —  he  bears  comparison  with  Louis  XIV.  and 
comes  off  with  honours,  while  to  his  mistresses  he  was 


xxxvii  LOUIS  THE  FIFTEENTH  641 

not  more  fickle,  unfeeling,  or  servile.  No  two  men  are 
controlled  just  alike,  but  the  Maintenon  governed 
Louis  XIV.  as  completely,  and  as  calamitously  to  the 
kingdom,  as  the  Pompadour  controlled  Louis  XV. 

He  speculated  in  corn  for  famine  prices,  and  plundered 
the  treasury  whenever  he  could,  but  it  does  not  appear 
that  he  also  robbed  his  own  relatives,  as  the  Grand 
Monarch  robbed  his  cousin,  the  Grande  Mademoiselle. 

Louis  XV.  was  a  bigot,  and  in  the  midst  of  his  dissi- 
pations was  deeply  concerned  about  what  he  called  his 
soul.  To  please  the  priests  and  secure  impunity  for  his 
notoriously  dissolute  life,  he  persecuted  the  Protestants , 
but  compared  to  the  wholesale  and  inhuman  barbarities 
of  his  grandfather  his  own  persecutions  were  as  a  zephyr 
to  a  cyclone.  He  became  a  confirmed  libertine,  but  he 
was  no  worse  than  those  who  preceded  nor  those  who 
surrounded  him. 

Louis  XV.  was  wasteful,  extravagant,  insolently  dis- 
regardful  of  the  miseries  of  the  great  masses  of  the 
people.  But  where  the  Grand  Monarch  squandered  a 
hundred  million  dollars  on  Versailles,  and  a  similar  sum 
on  Marly,  his  grandson  built  the  Little  Trianon,  a  modest 
mansion  in  one  corner  of  the  park  of  Versailles,  where 
he  could  pass  quiet  days,  amusing  himself  with  amateur 
farming,  and  free  from  the  pomp  and  pageantry  which  he 
despised. 

In  short,  Louis  XV.  was  the  natural  product  of  his 
environment,  a  smaller,  more  inert,  and  more  amiable 
edition  of  his  pompous,  vindictive,  and  insanely  conceited 
grandfather.  He  found  the  monarchy  waiting  for  his 
ownership ;  he  took  his  seat  on  the  throne,  as  a  traveller 
enters  the  vessel  upon  which  he  must  travel  to  reach  a 

2T 


642  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

given  destination.  He  did  not  build  the  ship,  had 
nothing  to  do  with  equipping  it,  takes  no  particular 
interest  in  it.  He  simply  finds  it  there,  enters  it,  enjoys 
what  pleasures  it  offers,  concerns  himself  little  about  its 
management,  takes  everything  as  a  matter  of  course,  and 
cares  absolutely  nothing  about  the  fate  of  the  ship,  or  of 
the  companions  of  his  voyage,  after  he  shall  have  left  it. 
His  only  care  is  that  it  shall  sail  smoothly  while  he  is 
on  board.  After  that,  the  ship  and  the  crew  may  go  to 
Hades,  so  far  as  he  is  concerned. 

Consequently  Louis  XV.  is  historically  almost  devoid 
of  character.  No  individuality  of  his  stamps  itself  upon 
any  government  policy,  foreign  or  domestic.  So  far  as  the 
course  of  events  is  concerned,  he  might  as  well  have  been 
a  figure  of  speech,  a  metaphor,  an  abstraction.  He  sat 
at  the  council-board,  but  his  handsome  face  wore  no 
expression,  his  lips  uttered  no  words  of  advice.  He  ap- 
peared at  the  head  of  his  army,  but  he  issued  no  com- 
mand, led  no  charge,  endured  no  danger  nor  privation. 
His  soldiers  fought  and  died,  his  generals  planned  and 
executed  ;  he  did  nothing  but  look  on. 

So  it  was,  always.  Fleury  governed,  or  Choiseul  gov- 
erned, or  the  Pompadour  governed,  or  Maupeou  gov- 
erned ;  Louis  himself  never  even  claimed  to  govern.  He 
seemed  to  see  the  drift  of  things,  seemed  to  realize  that 
the  old  regime  was  going  to  pieces,  but  he  was  resolved 
not  to  worry  over  it  or  try  to  remodel  it.  "  It  will  last 
as  long  as  I  live  ;  those  who  come  after  me  may  do  the 
best  they  can,"  said  the  clear-sighted  monarch,  who  had 
lived  all  his  days  among  men  whose  characters  he  could 
not  respect  and  among  women  he  could  but  despise.  He 
knew  they  were  corrupt  to  the  core  ;  he  knew  the  old 


ixxvn  LOUIS  THE  FIFTEENTH  643 

regime  was  rotten  to  the  heart ;  he  knew  the  courtiers 
who  fawned  about  him  cared  nothing  for  him,  and  he  cared 
nothing  for  them.  He  sank  into  listless  vice,  wallowed 
indolently  in  the  foulest  mire,  and  died,  at  last,  in  the 
consolations  of  religion  and  the  blessed  anticipations  of 
faith. 

The  administration  of  Fleury  lasted  thirteen  years, 
although  he  was  seventy-three  at  the  time  of  its  com- 
mencement. 

One  of  his  first  measures  was  to  reduce  the  taxes 
and  to  fix  the  value  of  the  silver  mark,  which  he 
raised  to  fifty-one  livres,  and  which  has  undergone  but 
little  variation  since. 

The  value  of  the  currency  being  thus  fixed  and  stable, 
the  good  results  were  soon  shown  in  the  growth  of 
commerce  and  the  increase  of  general  business. 

He  weakened  public  credit  still  further,  however,  by 
arbitrarily  reducing  the  interest  on  annuities,  which  was 
the  more  unjust,  since  he  victimized  only  the  smallest 
pensioners,  those  who  enjoyed  the  large  pensions  not 
being  molested. 

Being  a  timorous  old  man,  and  realizing  that  France  A.D. 
needed  peace,  he  reconciled  her  with  Spain,  and  came  1726 
to  a  good  understanding  with  Austria  also. 

The  nation  prospered  under  his  mild  administration. 
Greater  revenues  were  derived  from  the  same  taxes  ; 
the  interest  on  the  public  debt  was  paid  promptly, 
and  its  principal  reduced.  In  the  two  years  prior  to 
the  war  of  the  Austrian  succession  there  was  a  surplus 
of  15,000,000  livres  annually,  a  phenomenon  which  had 
not  occurred  in  the  memory  of  man,  and  which  did  not 
occur  again  under  the  old  regime. 


644  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

A.».        In  1733,  Augustus  II.,  king  of  Poland,  died,  and  the 

1733  .  • 

throne   was  claimed  by  Stanislaus,  the   father-in-law   of 

Louis  XV.,  and  by  the  elector  of  Saxony.  Austria 
and  Russia  supported  the  elector  with  their  troops,  and 
Stanislaus  was  once  more  under  the  necessity  of  taking 
to  his  heels.  Public  opinion  in  France  compelled  Fleury 
to  aid  Stanislaus.  Fifteen  hundred  men  were  sent, — 
by  no  means  a  sufficient  number,  —  and  they  were  all 
captured. 
A.D.  Still  spurred  onward  by  public  opinion,  Fleury  made 

1733 

treaties  with  Spain  and  Savoy,  secured  the  neutrality 
of  England  and  Holland,  and  sent  out  two  armies 
against  Austria,  one  under  Berwick  to  Italy,  and  the 
other,  under  Villars,  to  the  Rhine. 

Berwick  took  Kehl,  laid  siege  to  Philippsburg,  and 
was  killed  in  battle.  Villars,  after  two  successful  cam- 
paigns, died  at  Turin.  His  successors  conquered  the 
Milanese,  and  installed  the  Spanish  Infante  on  the  throne 
of  Naples  and  Sicily,  thus  giving  other  crowns  to  the 
House  of  Bourbon.  France's  position  was  now  very 
powerful,  but  Fleury  was  timid,  and  peace  was  made. 
Spain  gained  largely,  at  the  expense  of  Austria.  Noth- 
ing was  ceded  to  France  directly,  but  Stanislaus,  ex-king 
of  Poland,  was  given  the  duchies  of  Lorraine  and  Bar, 

A.D.    which,  at  his   death,  were  to  revert  to  France.      Such 

1738   was  the  Treaty  of  Vienna. 

A.D.  In  1740  Charles  VI.,  emperor  of  Germany,  died,  leav- 
ing as  sole  heir  to  his  hereditary  dominions  his  daughter, 
Maria  Theresa.  By  treaties  with  the  neighbouring  rulers 
he  had,  as  he  believed,  secured  for  her  a  peaceful  acces- 
sion, but  the  breath  was  hardly  gone  from  his  body 
before  five  claimants  appeared  to  challenge  her  title. 


xxxvn  LOUIS  THE  FIFTEENTH  645 

The  king  of  Spain,  the  elector  of  Saxony,  and  the 
elector  of  Bavaria  each  laid  claim  to  the  entire  heritage, 
by  right  of  blood.  The  king  of  Sardinia  claimed  the 
duchy  of  Milan,  and  the  king  of  Prussia  seized  the 
four  duchies  of  Silesia. 

Frederick  the  Great,  king  of  Prussia,  is  one  of  the  "great 
men  "  of  history.  Like  most  of  the  members  of  that  order, 
he  was  unscrupulous,  ungrateful,  cruel,  and  treacherous. 
He  played  politics  with  a  callous  double-facedness  that  was 
Machiavellian  in  its  perfect  art.  He  could  lie  like  Queen 
Elizabeth,  could  be  as  merciless  as  Csesar,  as  vindictive  as 
Philip  II.,  and  as  cynical  as  Sylla.  He  had  no  belief  in 
God,  no  faith  in  man.  He  deserted  and  betrayed  his 
allies  whenever  his  interests  prompted  it,  making  war 
to  increase  his  territories,  his  power,  or  his  fame. 

His  father  had  left  him  a  fine  army  and  a  full  treasury, 
and  he  saw  that  Maria  Theresa  had  been  left  with  neither. 
It  seemed  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world  to  spring  upon 
this  helpless  girl  and  rob  her;  so  the  great  Frederick, 
without  preface  or  prelude,  poured  his  troops  across  the 
frontier  and  took  possession  of  Silesia. 

The  Austrian  army  met  the  Prussians  at  Molwitz,  and  a 
battle  followed.  The  day  seemed  to  be  going  against 
Frederick,  and  he  was  advised  to  leave  the  field.  He 
galloped  away  and  his  troops  continued  to  fight.  The 
Austrians  were  beaten,  and  the  glad  tidings  found  the 
king  many  miles  from  the  battle-field,  at  a  mill  where  he 
had  taken  refuge. 

The  Prussian  General  Schwerin,  who  had  advised  Fred- 
erick to  run,  said  long  afterwards  that  the  king  never 
forgave  him.  Frederick  was  a  great  talker  and  a  vo- 
luminous writer,  but  in  all  his  talk  and  in  all  his  writing 


646  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

there  was  never  an  allusion  to  his  flight  from  the  field 
of  Molwitz. 

Under  the  advice  of  the  Count  of  Belle-Isle,  and  against 
Fleury's  warnings,  France  entered  into  an  alliance  with 
Frederick  against  Maria  Theresa. 

A  more  fatal  mistake  no  nation  ever  made.  Without 
the  powerful  help  of  France,  Frederick,  in  all  human  prob- 
ability, would  have  been  forced  by  Austria  to  surrender 
Silesia,  and  Prussia  would  riot  have  made  such  gigantic 
strides  onward.  French  soldiers  died  and  French  treas- 
ure was  squandered  to  pave  the  way  for  Sedan  and  the 
loss  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine. 

In  pursuance  of  the  treaty  with  Frederick,  an  army  of 
40,000  French  invaded  the  Austrian  dominions.  Linz 
was  captured,  and  Vienna  might  have  fallen  had  an  at- 
tempt on  it  been  made ;  but  the  army,  instead,  was  led 
into  Bohemia.  Prague  fell,  and  the  fortunes  of  Maria 
Theresa  seemed  desperate.  With  heroic  courage,  how- 
ever, she  continued  the  struggle,  arousing  her  faithful 
Hungarians  by  personal  appeals.  Her  forces  entered 
A.D.  Munich  in  1742,  but  were  defeated  by  Frederick  at  Cho- 
*  tusitz,  and  she  concluded  a  separate  treaty  with  him,  in 
which  she  yielded  Silesia.  That  was  all  he  wanted,  and 
he  left  his  French  allies  in  the  lurch. 

Their  position  was  critical.  Deserted  by  the  Prussians, 
surrounded  by  enemies,  they  were  far  from  France,  and 
found  themselves  on  the  point  of  being  made  prisoners  of 
war.  It  was  only  by  leaving  Prague  at  night,  under 
cover  of  darkness,  and  undergoing  fearful  hardships  in 
forced  marches,  that  the  French  troops  escaped  at  all. 
Their  losses  were  great. 

England,  in  the  same  year,  declared  war  against  Spain 


xxxvn  LOUIS  THE  FIFTEENTH  647 

because  she  refused  to  open  her  colonies  to  English  trade, 
and  began  to  seize  French  ships  everywhere,  because  the 
commerce  of  France  was  becoming  a  dangerous  rival.  By 
subsidizing  Maria  Theresa  liberally,  England  encouraged 
her  to  continue  the  war,  which  had  now  fallen  wholly 
upon  France.  Fifty  thousand  English  and  German  troops 
advanced  to  the  valley  of  the  Main,  and  won  the  battle  of 
Dettingen  over  the  French,  who  now  fell  back  to  the 
Rhine. 

In  order  to  revive  the  dispirited  armies  of  France,  it 
was  thought  advisable  to  have  the  king,  Louis  XV.,  put 
himself  at  the  head ;  and  accordingly  he  went  to  the  wars, 
carrying  along  with  him  his  mistresses,  as  his  grandfather 
had  been  used  to  do. 

At  Metz  the  king  fell  sick,  and  it  was  thought  that  he 
was  dying.  The  greatest  consternation  prevailed  at 
Paris.  All  classes  of  people  were  plunged  in  the  deepest 
grief.  Cries  of  lamentation  were  heard  on  every  side. 
Strong  men  wept  in  the  streets.  At  the  church  of  Notre 
Dame  alone,  6000  prayers  for  the  king's  recovery  were 
ordered. 

So  great  an  outburst  of  affection  gave  occasion  for  the 
name  of  the  "  Well-beloved,"  which  was  afterwards  used 
to  designate  this  particular  Bourbon.  He  lived  long 
enough  to  wear  out  the  title  and  to  exhaust  the  love. 
When  Damiens  stabbed  him  in  1757,  only  600  prayers 
for  the  king's  recovery  were  ordered,  according  to  the 
account-books  of  Notre  Dame  ;  and  when  he  actually  lay 
dying  in  1775,  the  books  show  only  three. 

In  the  meanwhile,  Frederick  the  Great  became  alarmed 
at  the  progress  Austria  was  making.  Her  treaties  with 
England  and  with  Russia  made  Prussia  tremble  for 


648  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Silesia  ;  Frederick  therefore  once  more  took  the  field,  and 
invaded  Bohemia  as  far  as  Prague.  This  diversion  helped 
the  French  very  much. 

A.D.  At  this  time  Marshal  Saxe,  one  of  the  163  bastards 
of  his  late  Majesty,  Augustus  the  Strong,  king  of  Poland, 
was  in  the  service  of  France,  and  gained  a  great  vic- 
tory in  the  Netherlands.  At  the  battle  of  Fontenoy, 
he  defeated  the  English  and  Dutch,  and  as  a  result  the 
most  important  cities  of  the  Low  Countries  capitulated  to 
the  French. 

Frederick  the  Great  beat  the  Austrians  in  two  battles, 
so  Maria  Theresa  again  came  to  terms  with  him,  ceding 
him  Silesia.  This  defection  once  more  left  the  French 
without  an  ally  in  Germany. 

A.D.  England  freed  herself  from  the  Stuart  Pretender  at 
the  battle  of  Culloden  and  was  ready  to  cooperate 
more  vigorously  than  ever  with  Austria.  Italy  was  in- 
vaded by  the  forces  of  Maria  Theresa,  and  the  battle  of 
Piacenza  won.  The  allied  forces  of  the  English,  Austri- 
ans, and  Sardinians  attempted  the  invasion  of  France, 
but  they  were  driven  back. 

Marshal  Saxe  gained  the  battle  of  Raucoux  in  1746,  and 
in  the  following  year  that  of  Lawfeld.  Bergen-op-Zoom, 
the  "  impregnable,"  fell  into  his  hands.  Following  up  his 
successes,  he  invaded  Holland,  and  laid  siege  to  Maes- 

A.I>.  tricht.  Russia  had  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  enemies 
of  France  an  army  of  37,000  men  and  a  fleet  of  fifty  ships. 
France  was  thus  encircled  by  foes.  Not  only  did  the 
war  rage  in  Europe,  it  went  on  in  America  and  India  also. 
The  English  captured  Louisburg  and  Cape  Breton  in 
America,  but  in  India  the  brave  Dupleix  held  out  and 
severely  repulsed  the  British  attack  upon  Pondicherry. 


xxxvn  LOUIS   THE  FIFTEENTH  649 

In   1748,   the   peace   of    Aix-la-Chapelle   was     signed,    A.I>. 
whereby   France   surrendered   all    her   conquests   in   the    1748 
Netherlands.     Of  all  her  brilliant  victories,  no  fruit  was 
secured.     She  found  her  navy  reduced  to  two  vessels,  and 
her  national  debt  increased  1,200,000,000  livres. 

By  this  treaty,  Prussia  retained  Silesia,  Spain  got  the 
duchies  of  Parma,  Piacenza,  and  Guestella  for  the  Infante 
Don  Philip,  while  England  got  Nova  Scotia  and  the 
monopoly  of  the  slave-trade.  France  had  won  many 
battles  and  suffered  no  serious  defeat,  yet  she  asked  noth- 
ing and  got  nothing.  She  even  agreed  to  the  humiliating 
demands  of  England  that  the  French  fortifications  at  Dun- 
kirk should  be  demolished  and  the  luckless  Stuart  Pre- 
tender driven  out  of  France. 

Eight  years  of  peace  now  followed.  They  were  pros- 
perous years  for  the  kingdom.  Commerce  thrived,  home 
industries  took  a  new  vigour,  and  the  colonies  abroad 
developed  rapidly.  Dupleix  dreamed  of  the  great  empire 
in  India  which  afterwards  fell  to  England.  The  sugar 
and  coffee  of  the  French  Antilles  captured  the  European 
markets  and  drove  out  the  similar  products  of  England. 
Louisiana  began  to  flourish  and  New  Orleans  to  give 
promise  of  her  present  importance.  In  Canada,  France 
held  an  empire  whose  value  the  home  government  did  not 
appreciate.  Had  a  statesman  like  Coligny  or  Colbert 
been  at  the  helm  during  the  reign  of  Louis  XV.  France 
might  now  be  the  nation  which  boasts  that  its  drum-beat 
follows  the  course  of  the  sun  round  the  earth.  She  held 
the  Mississippi  and  the  St.  Lawrence,  the  grandest  water- 
ways in  the  New  World  ;  she  held  in  India  a  precedence 
which  needed  nothing  but  support  from  the  mother 
country  ;  she  held  in  Europe,  in  Asia,  and  in  America 


650  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

the  vastest  possibilities  that  ever  tempted  a  nation  to 
effort,  —  and  she  lost  it  all  because  her  rulers  were  in- 
competent. Thousands  of  Frenchmen  must  have  realized 
then,  as  thousands  do  now,  the  colossal  mistakes  the  gov- 
ernment was  making,  but  the  situation  admitted  of  no 
remedy.  The  governmental  system  was  so  vicious  that 
those  who  understood  could  do  nothing,  while  those  who 
could  do  something  did  not  understand.  Only  the  select 
few  governed  France,  and  among  these  select  few  no 
statesman  appeared. 

A.D.  In  1754  war  broke  out  again.  The  first  spark  blazed 
1754  up  in  the  New  World.  George  Washington,  then  a 
British  subject,  at  the  head  of  a  small  band  surprised  a 
French  officer,  Jumonville,  who  was  carrying  to  the  Eng- 
lish an  order  to  evacuate  the  valley  of  the  Ohio,  which 
both  nations  claimed.  Jumonville  and  some  of  his  party 
were  killed. 

This  was  the  first  blood  of  the  conflict.  Then,  without 
any  declaration  of  war,  the  English  seized  more  than  300 
French  vessels,  loaded  with  cargoes  to  the  value  of 
30,000,000  livres,  and  their  sailors  (10,000)  were  pressed 
into  the  English  service. 

Making  free  use  of  its  gold,  the  English  government 
subsidized  Frederick  the  Great,  and  he  became  their  ally. 
A.D.    Austria  made  overtures  to  France,  and  thus  the  hereditary 
1(56   foes  became  friends  —  in  an  evil  hour  for  France.    Russia, 
Sweden,  and  Saxony  also  sided  with  Austria  and  France. 
A  French  expedition,  under  that  confirmed  rake,  Riche- 
lieu, had  the  good  fortune  to  stumble  upon  a  fine  conquest. 
Minorca  was  captured,  and  the  English  fleet,  under  Ad- 
miral Byng,  was  beaten  off.     The  English  soothed  their 
chagrin  by  shooting  Byng. 


xxxvn  LOUIS   THE    FIFTEENTH  651 

Frederick  the  Great  took  a  bold  initiative,  as  usual, 
overran  Saxony,  to  the  helpless  amazement  of  its  elector, 
surrounded  the  Saxon  army,  gave  it  the  privilege  of 
being  absorbed  in  his  own,  and,  having  duly  swallowed  it,  *.D. 

1  »TC»T 

marched  away,  and  won  the  bloody  battle   of   Prague. 

He  was  defeated  by  the  Austrians  at  Kollin,  and,  had 
his  enemies  acted  in  concert,  they  might  have  crushed 
him.  As  it  was,  he  was  so  closely  hemmed  in  by  Rus- 
sians, Austrians,  and  French  that  he  gave  himself  up  for 
lost,  and  sued  for  peace.  His  enemies  also  thought  he 
was  lost,  and  rejected  his  overtures. 

The  incompetency  of  the  French  commanders  was 
Frederick's  salvation. 

Richelieu,  by  some  mysterious  chance,  had  got  the 
English  army,  under  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  completely 
surrounded. 

By  all  the  rules  of  war,  as  set  down  in  the  books,  the 
English  should  have  been  made  prisoners.  Richelieu, 
however,  had  either  never  heard  of  the  rules,  or  dis- 
approved of  them,  for  he  made  a  treaty  with  the  Eng- 
lish, letting  them  all  walk  out  of  the  pen.  The  English 
government  coolly  disavowed  the  treaty,  and  her  soldiers, 
who  should  have  been  prisoners,  went  to  fighting  again. 

Soubise,  another  French  commander,  was  perhaps  even 
less  fitted  for  the  post  than  Richelieu.  With  an  army  of 
50,000  he  was  put  to  flight  by  Frederick,  who  had  but 
20,000.  This  defeat  of  Rossbach  is  one  of  the  most  humil- 
iating in  French  annals. 

Napoleon,  after  Jena,  carried  away  the  monumental 
stone  by  which  the  Prussians  had  commemorated  their 
triumph. 

At  Rossbach  the  Prussian  loss  was  400  ;   the  French, 


652  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

3000  in  killed  and  7000  in  prisoners.      They  lost,  also, 
sixty-three  cannon. 
A.D.        The  French  were  defeated  at  Krefeld,  and  the  army, 

1  7KQ 

so  badly  led,  became  demoralized. 

William  Pitt,  afterwards  Lord  Chatham,  poured  money 
into  Frederick's  coffers  without  stint,  and  the  war  went 
on.  He  defeated  the  Russians  at  Zorndorf,  and  the 
Austrians  at  Hochkirk,  where  he  lost  10,000  men.  At 

A.D.    Kunersdorf  the  Russians  gave  him  a  tremendous  beating; 

1759  20,000  men  were  slain  on  each  side,  and  Frederick  was  so 
much  overcome  for  the  moment  that  he  threw  up  the 
command  of  the  army  and  talked  of  suicide.  Berlin  fell 
into  the  hands  of  his  foe  and  was  held  to  ransom. 

The  victory  of  Minden,  gained  by  Ferdinand  of  Bruns- 
wick, revived  Frederick's  hopes.  He  defeated  the  Aus- 
trians at  Liegnitz,  delivered  his  capital,  and  forced  Daun, 

A.D.    the  Austrian  commander,  into  a  dangerous  position  near 

1  *7ft  1 

Torgau.  But  Prussia  was  almost  exhausted,  and  during 
the  campaign  of  1761  Frederick  maintained  the  defensive. 
A.D.  At  a  very  fortunate  moment  for  him,  the  czarina,  Eliza- 
1762  beth  of  Russia,  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  Peter  III.,  an 
ardent  admirer  of  the  Prussian  king,  whereupon  the  Rus- 
sian army  was  at  once  called  off  and  Frederick  was  relieved 
from  danger  on  the  north  and  east. 

On  the  land  the  war  was  not  fortunate  for  France  ;  on 
the  sea  it  was  destructive.  The  English  blockaded  her 
forts,  seized  her  vessels,  descended  upon  her  coasts  and 
ravaged  them. 

No  money  and  no  reinforcements  were  sent  to  India, 
and  Lord  Clive  demolished  the  French  power  in  the  East. 

In  Canada,  Montcalm  was  left  with  5000  troops  to 
oppose  40,000  English.  He  was  not  supplied  with  pro- 


xxxvn  LOUIS  THE   FIFTEENTH  653 

visions,  nor  with  powder  and  shot.  The  Pompadour  was 
lavishing  millions  upon  her  frivolous  favourites  at  Paris, 
while  the  soldiers  of  France  were  left  unclothed,  unfed, 
and  unsupplied  with  ammunition. 

What  else  could  come  but  disaster  ?  Montcalm  laboured 
like  a  hero,  fought  like  a  hero,  died  like  a  hero,  but  his 
gallant  life  was  wasted.  Canada  was  lost.  France  struck 
her  colours,  and  fell  back  before  Great  Britain  in  America 
as  well  as  in  India. 

After  the  death  of  Fleury  in  1743  the  administration  had 
nominally  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Count  of  Argenson, 
but  they  did  not  long  remain  so.  A  capricious  woman, 
the  Marquise  de  Pompadour,  was  the  mistress  of  the 
inert  king,  and  the  ministers  came  and  went  at  her 
whim. 

Voltaire  said  they  "  tumbled  after  one  another  like  the 
figures  of  a  magic  lantern." 

At  length  the  Duke  of  Choiseul  secured  the  favour  of    A.D. 
the  Pompadour,  and  he  became  minister. 

In  1761,  the  Family  Compact  was  signed.  By  this 
treaty  the  various  branches  of  the  Bourbon  family  united, 
—  France,  Spain,  the  Two  Sicilies,  and  Parma  and 
Piacenza. 

England  immediately  declared  war  on  Spain,  seized 
Manila  and  the  Philippines,  Havana,  twelve  ships  of  the 
line,  and  prizes  valued  at  100,000,000  francs. 

The  powers,  however,  had  all  grown  tired  of  the  war,    A.D. 

1  '?£JO 

and  peace  was  made. 

England  gained  Canada,  Acadia,  Cape  Breton,  Grenada, 
the  Grenadines,  St.  Vincent,  Dominica,  Tobago,  Senegal, 
Minorca,  and  Florida. 

France  lost   all   these,  and   spent  1,350,000,000  while 


664  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP,  xxxvn 

doing  so,  —  to  say  nothing  of  her  brave  soldiers  dead  in 
the  Old  World  and  in  the  New. 

Prussia  kept  Silesia.  Spain  recovered  Cuba  and  Manila, 
but  gave  up  Florida  to  the  English.  As  compensation, 
France  ceded  Louisiana  to  Spain. 

This  war,  as  Frederick  the  Great  impressively  said, 
commenced  "on  account  of  two  or  three  wretched  huts 
(in  the  Ohio  valley)  ;  the  English  had  gained  by  it  2000 
leagues  of  territory,  and  humanity  lost  a  million  men." 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII 

LOUIS   THE  FIFTEENTH    (continued) 

remaining  events  of  importance  which  marked  the 
reign  of  Louis  XV.  were  the  union  of  Lorraine  to 
France,  upon  the  death  of  Stanislaus,  ex-king  of  Poland 
(1765) ;  the  conquest  of  Corsica  in  1768 ;  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  Jesuits  in  1764;  and  the  destruction  of  the 
Parliaments  in  1771. 

Against  the  dark  background  of  his  times,  the  character 
of  Stanislaus  stands  out  pleasantly.  He  was  a  Polish 
nobleman,  the  friend  of  Charles  XII.  of  Sweden,  and  to 
the  influence  of  that  monarch  he  owed  his  election  to  the 
throne  of  Poland,  in  1704.  The  "inspired  madman," 
Charles  XII.,  dared  fate  once  too  often,  and  met  his  doom 
at  Pultowa.  He  wore  himself  out  beating  the  Russians, 
and  followed  them  much  too  far  into  the  frozen  wilds  of 
their  country,  —  an  example  which  might  have  warned 
Napoleon,  but  did  not.  Great  was  his  fall,  and  Stanislaus 
fell  with  him,  —  Russia  having  espoused  the  cause  of 
Augustus  II.,  the  Strong,  who  became  king  of  Poland. 
Stanislaus  fled,  and  for  many  years  was  a  wanderer  upon 
the  earth.  At  length  he  found  refuge  in  the  little  city  of 
Meissenburg.  The  French  protected  him,  and  allowed 
him  a  pension,  and  he  led  a  quiet,  simple  life,  fond  of  his 
studies,  active  in  pious  works,  ready  with  his  charities, 
and  devoted  to  his  family. 

655 


656  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

His  daughter  was  the  good  little  girl  of  the  fairy  tale, 
and  one  day  a  great  king  came  and  took  her  for  his  wife. 

She  was  greatly  astonished,  and  so  was  her  father ;  so 
much  so  that  they  prayed  over  it,  as  has  been  already 
told. 

Louis  XV.  had  a  royal  way  of  doing  many  things,  and, 
after  marrying  the  daughter,  he  did  not  neglect  her  sire. 
The  magnificent  palace  of  Chambord  and  its  imperial 
domains  were  assigned  to  him  for  a  residence.  There  the 
good  Stanislaus  found  a  tranquil  splendour,  a  luxurious 
security  which  he  never  could  have  found  as  king  of  so 
rude  and  insubordinate  a  people  as  the  Poles. 

Augustus  the  Strong  died,  however,  in  1733,  and  the 
claims  of  Stanislaus  were  revived  by  the  French.  It  does 
not  appear  that  the  ex-king  himself  was  anxious  about  the 
matter.  On  the  whole  he  preferred  the  actual  comforts  of 
Chambord  to  the  possible  grandeurs  of  Poland.  But  the 
politicians  would  not  have  it  so,  and  Stanislaus  was  com- 
pelled to  be  a  candidate  for  the  vacant  throne.  He  took 
no  active  part  in  the  campaign,  but  he  put  himself  in  the 
hands  of  his  friends,  as  many  other  unfortunate  citizens 
of  various  countries  have  done. 

Royal  elections  in  Poland  were  singular  things.  Each 
noble  had  a  vote,  and  each  vote  had  its  price. 

The  French  minister,  who  had  control  of  the  canvass  of 
Stanislaus,  wrote  to  his  government :  "  The  election  of 
Stanislaus  can  only  be  secured  by  money.  Formerly  one 
could  buy  a  Pole  for  a  moderate  sum,  but  this  is  no  longer 
so." 

The  Austrian  emperor  also  had  a  candidate  in  the  field, 
the  elector  of  Saxony,  son  of  the  deceased  Augustus  the 
Strong.  The  emperor  likewise  understood  what  was  nee- 


xxxvin  LOUIS  THE  FIFTEENTH  657 

essary  to  convince  a  Polish  nobleman,  and  two  strong 
wagons,  heavily  guarded,  rolled  through  the  streets  of 
Warsaw  to  the  emperor's  residence.  The  rumour  was, 
that  these  wagons  contained  the  Austrian  campaign  fund. 

The  French  government  sent  the  Marquis  of  Monte, 
its  minister,  11,000,000  francs,  and  the  greater  part  of 
the  sum  was  used  in  buying  votes  for  Stanislaus.  The 
money  was  evidently  put  where  it  would  do  the  most 
good,  for  Stanislaus  was  elected.  Sixty  thousand  Polish 
nobles  assembled  in  the  open  plain  on  horseback,  mag- 
nificently arrayed,  with  guns  in  their  hands,  with  en- 
thusiasm in  their  souls,  and  with  French  bribes  in 
their  pockets,  and  boisterously  proclaimed  Stanislaus 
king  of  the  country. 

Having  done  this,  the  Polish  grandees  fired  their  guns, 
dashed  here  and  there  on  their  horses,  shouted  lustily, 
drank  freely,  and  rode  off  to  their  homes,  leaving  Stanis- 
laus to  hold  his  place  as  best  he  could. 

The  successful  candidate  found  himself  in  a  most  embar- 
rassing situation.  He  had  no  army,  no  money  in  the  treas- 
ury, no  system  of  taxation  by  which  he  could  levy  on  his 
enthusiastic  supporters,  and  a  rival  candidate  was  looming 
up  in  the  distance  and  preparing  to  contest  the  election, 
—  a  contest  which  promised  to  be  formidable,  for  it  was 
backed  up  by  Russian  troops  and  Austrian  money. 

While  Stanislaus  was  reflecting  upon  the  situation,  the 
Russian  army  advanced  upon  Warsaw.  As  none  of  the 
Polish  nobles  whom  he  had  bought  came  forward  to  fight 
for  him,  Stanislaus  took  a  midnight  stroll  away  from  War- 
saw and  went  to  Dantzic.  The  Russians  entered  Warsaw 
without  opposition,  and  the  elector  of  Saxony  was  peace- 
fully enthroned  under  the  name  of  Augustus  III. 
2  u 


658  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Stanislaus  remained  in  Dantzic,  a  prey  to  melancholy, 
but  after  the  capture  of  the  small  force  of  French  soldiers 
which  was  sent  to  his  relief,  he  disguised  himself  as  a 
peasant,  fled,  and  after  enduring  many  hardships  made 
good  his  escape  into  Prussia. 

At  the  general  peace  which  followed  the  war  of  the 
Polish  succession,  France  insisted  that  Stanislaus  must 
be  provided  for,  and  accordingly  he  was  given,  for  life, 
the  duchies  of  Lorraine  and  Bar. 

This  ended  his  wanderings.  For  thirty  years  he  ruled 
in  Lorraine,  to  the  delight  of  himself  and  the  happiness 
of  his  subjects.  He  was  mild,  charitable,  and  wise.  He 
loved  his  people  and  loved  to  do  good.  He  was  easy  of 
access,  talked  to  all  he  met,  took  a  humane  interest  in 
everybody,  established  academies,  founded  a  hospital  for 
disabled  soldiers,  endowed  a  public  library,  supported 
missionaries,  gave  dowries  to  poor  girls,  built  churches, 
and  fed  the  hungry. 

He  paid  his  bills  every  month  like  a  gentleman,  dis- 
carded the  foolish  and  tiresome  pomps  of  courts,  smoked 
his  pipe  in  peace  undisturbed  by  wars  and  dreams  of 
empire,  loved  good  eating,  good  drinking,  and  a  con- 
genial woman,  but  went  to  bed  regularly  every  night 
at  honest  hours,  and  was  almost  always  sober. 

His  greatest  reform  and  work  of  benevolence  consisted 
in  appointing  five  councillors,  learned  in  the  law,  and 
paid  by  the  State,  whose  duty  it  was  to  give  advice,  free 
of  charge,  to  all  who  applied  for  it.  In  this  simple  and 
economical  manner  he  sought  to  free  his  beloved  subjects 
from  the  voracity  of  the  lawyers. 

Stanislaus  was  known  far  and  wide  as  a  friend  to  men 
of  learning,  and  many  flocked  to  his  court. 


xxxvni  LOUIS  THE  FIFTEENTH  659 

To  this  amiable  monarch  death  came  most  cruelly  :  his 
clothing  caught  on  fire,  and  he  was  fatally  burned. 


The  conquest  of  Corsica  was  an  event  destined  to  exert 
a  mighty  influence  upon  the  future  of  France,  for  by  this 
acquisition  she  was  to  obtain  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 

Corsica,  a  small  island  in  the  Mediterranean,  belonged 
to  Genoa.  In  1729  the  Corsicans  revolted,  and  a  war  of 
forty  years  followed,  which  destroyed  the  authority  of 
Genoa.  She  offered  to  sell  out  her  claims  to  France,  — 
land,  rebels,  and  all.  Choiseul,  casting  round  to  find 
some  foe  which  France  could  whip,  believed  that  Corsica 
was  small  enough,  and  he  therefore  bought  up  the  Geno- 
ese title. 

French  troops  were  landed,  and  sharp  fighting  ensued. 
At  first  the  Corsicans  beat  the  French  ;  reinforcements 
were  sent,  however,  and  the  brave  islanders  were  over- 
powered. 

The  Corsican  leader,  Paoli,  became  not  only  the  hero  of 
his  own  people,  but  achieved  a  fame  which  has  securely 
preserved  his  name.  It  took  20,000  French  troops,  aided 
by  liberal  briberies  of  many  Corsican  leaders,  to  subdue 
the  island.  Charles  Bonaparte,  father  of  Napoleon,  was 
one  of  those  who  were  bought  over  to  the  French 
interest,  —  according  to  Bourrienne,  who  reports  the  son 
as  saying,  "  My  father  should  have  followed  Paoli's  fort- 
une and  have  fallen  with  him." 


The  Society  of  Jesus  had  been  for  a  long  time  unpop- 
ular in  France.    The  Parliament  set  its  face  against  them, 


660  THE  STOEY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

and  a  long  and  bitter  struggle  followed.  The  Jesuits 
worked  in  secret,  obeyed  implicitly  the  orders  which 
came  from  Rome,  used  the  most  unholy  means  in 
reaching  their  aims,  and  avowed  principles  which  were 
subversive  of  state  authority.  They  had  stirred  up 
civil  war  in  France,  had  time  and  again  set  her  peo- 
ple to  cutting  each  other's  throats,  had  assassinated  her 
kings,  and  betrayed  the  true  interest  of  the  kingdom, 
sometimes  to  Spain,  sometimes  to  Austria,  always  to 
Rome. 

The  confessors  of  the  French  kings  and  of  their  mis- 
tresses were  usually  Jesuits.  A  Jesuit  priest  had  mur- 
dered Henry  IV.  because  he  tolerated  Protestant  worship, 
and  because  he  was  preparing  to  assail  Catholic  Austria. 
Jesuit  priests  had  secured  the  repeal  of  the  toleration 
act,  called  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  and  delivered  France 
over  to  the  horrors  of  religious  persecution. 

The  middle  classes  hated  them.  Scholars  wrote  against 
them.  Pascal,  in  his  "  Provincial  Letters,"  had  exposed 
their  teachings  and  their  practices. 

In  1713  the  Jesuits  had  persuaded  Pope  Clement  XI. 
to  issue  the  bull  "  Unigenitus,"  which  condemned  as 
heretical  the  teachings  of  Cornells  Jansen,  who  had  been 
bishop  of  Ypres  seventy-five  years  earlier.  Factions 
were  at  once  formed  in  the  Church,  and  for  half  a  century 
a  furious  religious  quarrel  raged. 

So  high  did  the  feeling  arise  that  Catholic  bishops  re- 
fused to  administer  the  last  sacrament  to  dying  Catholics 
who  were  tainted  with  the  heresy  of  Jansenism. 

In  1732  the  Parliament  of  Paris  had  condemned  the 
clergy  for  their  intolerance  and  enacted  penalties  against 
them  ;  the  spiritual  authorities  upheld  the  clergy,  and 


xxzvni  LOUIS  THE   FIFTEENTH  661 

threatened  excommunication  against  those  who  adminis- 
tered the  sacrament  to  Catholic  heretics  ;  the  government 
was  irresolute,  and  angered  both  Parliament  and  clergy. 
Public  sentiment  supported  the  Parliament. 

In  1761  there  came  before  Parliament  a  law  case  which 
was  the  ruin  of  the  Jesuits. 

At  Martinique  the  Jesuits  had  a  mission,  which  devoted 
its  energies  partly  to  saving  souls  and  partly  to  selling 
merchandise.  In  1747  Father  Lavalette  was  made  supe- 
rior at  the  mission,  and  he  established  a  bank,  erected 
great  warehouses,  dealt  in  sugar,  coffee,  and  slaves,  and 
did  a  large  and  prosperous  business.  His  ships  were 
on  every  sea,  his  correspondents  in  all  the  great  cities. 
On  complaint  of  other  merchants,  Father  Lavalette  was 
ordered  by  the  French  government  to  confine  himself 
to  spiritual  affairs ;  and  he  promised  to  do  so,  but 
did  not. 

The  disastrous  wars  into  which  France  plunged  ruined 
thousands  of  French  merchants,  Father  Lavalette  among 
them.  He  drew  bills  to  the  amount  of  1,000,000  livres  on 
the  Lioncys,  his  correspondents  at  Marseilles,  against  mer- 
chandise which  he  had  shipped  from  Martinique,  and  they 
accepted  the  drafts. 

English  semi-pirates  fell  in  with  Lavalette's  goods  and 
unfeelingly  appropriated  them.  The  bills  became  due, 
the  merchandise  did  not  arrive,  the  Lioncys  were  in  great 
distress,  as  is  usual  in  such  cases,  and  they  asked  the 
Jesuits  of  Marseilles  to  take  up  the  drafts.  Most  unwisely 
they  refused.  The  Lioncys  were  driven  into  bankruptcy, 
but  their  creditors  determined  to  collect  the  dishonoured 
bills  out  of  the  Jesuit  society. 

Suit  was  begun  upon  the  idea  that  Lavalette  was  not 


662  THE   STORY   OF  FRANCE  cnxr. 

engaged  in  business  for  himself  individually,  but  for  the 
Order  of  Jesus. 

The  consular  court  at  Marseilles  so  decided,  and  gave 
judgment  against  the  order. 

An  appeal  was  taken  to  the  Parliament  at  Paris.  By 
the  time  the  trial  came  on,  all  France  was  an  interested 
observer  of  this  lawsuit,  and  as  many  people  as  the 
great  hall  of  the  court  could  hold  were  present,  eager 
listeners  and  spectators.  The  sentiment  was  all  one  way. 
Every  ruling  unfavourable  to  the  Jesuits  was  loudly  ap- 
plauded. The  judges  demanded  to  see  the  constitution 
and  by-laws  of  the  society,  and  accordingly  these  were 
produced  in  court  and  examined. 

The  Parliament  decided  that  under  its  organization 
the  society  as  a  whole  was  responsible  for  Lavalette's 
debts,  and  gave  judgment  against  its  property  wherever 
found. 

Not  satisfied  with  deciding  the  question  before  it, 
Parliament  began  to  inquire  whether  such  a  society, 
bound  by  such  rules,  was  not  dangerous  to  the  State. 

Greatly  alarmed,  the  Jesuits  set  secret  machinery  in 
motion,  and  the  king  ordered  Parliament  to  pause, 
directing  that  nothing  further  should  be  done  for  twelve 
months,  and  that,  in  the  meantime,  the  books  of  the 
order  should  be  sent  to  him. 

But  the  Parliament  took  a  bold  step.  It  defied  the 
king  and  published  two  decrees.  It  condemned  the 
Jesuit  books  and  ordered  them  to  be  burnt,  and  it 
further  forbade  citizens  to  join  the  order,  and  directed 
their  schools  to  be  closed. 

Of  course  this  law-court,  called  the  Parliament,  had 
no  authority  to  pass  or  enforce  these  decrees,  but 


xxxvm  LOUIS  THE  FIFTEENTH  663 

Louis  XV.  loved  his  ease  and  did  not  long  for  a  fight. 
He  saw  that  the  Jesuits  were  almost  universally  hated, 
and  that  a  tremendous  turmoil  would  result  if  he  under- 
took to  fight  their  battles  ;  so  he  let  the  decrees  of  Par- 
liament stand. 

It  is  believed,  also,  that  Madame  de  Pompadour  hated 
the  Jesuits,  and  that  Choiseul  did  not  love  them. 

The  decrees  of  Parliament  were  enforced  ;  the  prop- 
erty of  the  society  was  levied  on  and  sold  ;  even  the 
ornaments  of  their  churches  and  their  beautiful  paintings 
were  auctioned  off  to  the  highest  bidder  ;  their  schools 
were  closed,  and  the  dress  of  the  order  proscribed. 

In  1764  the  order  of  Jesuits  was  formally  suppressed 
by  royal  decree  ;  and  the  example  set  in  France  was  fol- 
lowed in  Spain,  Portugal,  Naples,  Parma,  Venice,  and 
Bavaria. 

In  1767  the  Parliament  of  Paris  declared  them  public 
enemies,  ordered  them  to  leave  the  kingdom,  and  asked 
the  king  to  demand  of  the  Pope  the  dissolution  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus. 

In  July,  1773,  appeared  the  papal  decree  in  which  the 
once  most  powerful  order  was  abolished.  Frederick  the 
Great  and  Catherine  of  Russia,  neither  of  whom  was 
possessed  of  any  religious  belief  whatever,  were  the  only 
rulers  who  gave  shelter  and  protection  to  the  persecuted 
Jesuits. 

In  1814,  Pius  VII.  restored  the  order  of  the  Jesuits, 
and  it  is  once  again  powerful.  Working  by  secret 
methods,  in  dark  ways,  toward  the  same  old  ends,  the 
Jesuits  are  rapidly  regaining  ground.  "  History  repeats 
itself,"  because  its  lessons  are  so  soon  forgotten. 


664  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

In  abolishing  the  Parliament,  Louis  XV.  had  accom^ 
plished  really  a  radical  and  beneficial  reform,  without 
intending  to  do  so.  His  purpose  was  to  remove  an  ob- 
stacle to  his  absolutism.  He  was  impatient  of  the  exist- 
ence of  a  body  of  lawyers  which  had  the  legal  right  to 
protest  against  royal  edicts.  It  seemed  to  him  to  be  an 
inconsistency,  an  impertinence,  for  any  one,  high  or  low, 
to  question  his  supreme  power.  His  conception  of  his 
absolute  authority  was  expressed  by  him  in  1766,  in  these 
words  :  "  In  my  person  alone  is  the  sovereign  authority  ; 
legislative  power  belongs  to  me  alone  ;  public  order 
emanates  from  me  ;  I  am  its  supreme  guardian." 

The  supreme  judicial  power  in  France  was  vested  in 
the  several  Parliaments.  Originally  a  judge  obtained  his 
office  by  paying  for  it.  The  king  openly  sold  the  com- 
mission, and  when  once  paid  for,  it  became  the  property 
of  the  holder,  and  he  could  sell  it  or  bequeath  it  to  his 
son.  These  tribunals  had  no  legislative  power ;  they 
were  simply  law-courts,  and  rather  poor  ones  at  that. 

The  lawyers  of  that  day  were  about  on  a  par  with  the 
doctors,  the  priests,  the  nobles,  the  king,  and  the  people. 
The  doctors  either  bled  and  purged  the  victim,  burnt  him 
with  red-hot  irons,  plastered  him  with  flayed  animals, 
soothed  him  with  soup  made  from  water  and  a  gold  coin, 
or  they  hoodooed  him  with  some  charm,  mystic  rite,  and 
formula  which  would  have  carried  delight  and  faith  to  the 
soul  of  a  naked  Hottentot.  The  priests  were  as  far  away 
from  God  as  the  limitations  of  human  nature  would  per- 
mit, and  they  worked  miracles  with  an  ease  which  some- 
what glutted  the  market.  The  nobles  greedily  contended 
for  every  privilege  and  power  which  had  once  gone  hand 
in  hand  with  duties,  but  which  now  represented  nothing 


xxxvni  LOUIS  THE  FIFTEENTH  665 

but  vanity,  cupidity,  and  tyranny.  The  king  had  fallen 
from  the  high  plane  of  divine  right  to  rule,  as  God  would 
rule,  —  justly,  toilf ully,  benevolently,  as  a  steward  in 
charge  of  a  vast  trust,  —  and  now  conceived  himself  to  be 
owner  in  fee  of  millions  of  French  acres,  revenues,  and 
people,  without  accountability  to  God  or  man. 

And  the  people  likewise  had  estrayed  afar  from  the 
path  of  safety.  They  were  ignorant  enough  to  satisfy 
even  the  clergy  ;  they  were  poor  enough  to  be  meek,  and 
thus  leave  the  nobles  no  room  for  complaint ;  they  were 
stupidly  unconscious  of  and  indifferent  to  what  was 
going  on  in  that  world  where  the  consecrated  king 
and  his  elect  were  deigning  to  exist  and  to  spend  all 
the  money  which  millions  of  peasants  could  dig  out  of 
the  earth. 

There  were  as  many  different  sorts  of  law  in  France  as 
there  were  parliaments.  Feudal  privileges  which  are 
recognized  by  the  Parliament  of  one  province  were  denied 
by  the  courts  of  another ;  a  tax  that  was  legal  in  Nor- 
mandy was  not  so  in  Burgundy  ;  trade-guilds  claimed 
monopolies  which  were  admitted  by  the  Parliament  of 
Paris  and  denied  by  that  of  Marseilles.  Endless  con- 
fusion thus  prevailed. 

The  decisions  reached  by  these  judges  were  such  as  the 
times  demanded.  For  instance,  in  the  city  of  Abbeville 
a  crucifix  was  mutilated  by  some  person  unknown,  and 
several  boys  were  arrested  on  suspicion.  It  was  shown  at 
the  trial  that  one  of  them,  named  La  Barre,  had  been 
guilty  of  some  profane  songs,  some  irreverent  words,  and 
had  studied  the  philosophical  dictionary  of  Voltaire ;  he 
was  therefore  condemned  at  Abbeville  to  have  his  tongue 
cut  out,  his  head  cut  off,  his  body  burnt,  his  ashes  scat- 


666  THE   STOKY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

tered  to  the  winds  ;  and  the  Parliament  at  Paris  confirmed 
the  sentence. 

There  was  no  evidence  that  the  boy  had  broken  the  cru- 
cifix ;  he  was  not  even  convicted  of  having  done  so.  He 
was  found  guilty  of  singing  profane  songs  and  of  making 
jeering  remarks  about  the  worship  of  the  cross.  Probably 
the  most  damning  proof  against  him  was  that  he  had  read 
a  book  of  Voltaire's.  At  any  rate,  the  learned  court 
found  a  verdict  against  the  book  also. 

The  poor  boy  was  put  to  the  torture,  was  ground  and 
wrenched  until  he  was  well-nigh  dead ;  then  he  was  led 
to  the  scaffold  and  his  head  struck  off,  after  which  the 
executioner  took  Voltaire's  book  and  destroyed  it.  This 
was  on  the  morning  of  July  1,  1766. 

And  the  populace,  steeped  in  the  infamies  of  supersti- 
tions which  would  degrade  the  savages  of  darkest  Africa, 
dispersed  contentedly  to  their  dinners,  their  small-talk, 
and  their  prayers. 

La  Barre's  fate  was  enough  of  itself  to  eternally  damn 
the  lawyers  concerned  in  it,  but  this  case  was  by  no  means 
the  only  one  of  the  sort,  nor  the  worst. 

In  response  to  popular  clamour,  the  Parliament  of  Paris, 
without  any  proof  whatsoever,  judicially  murdered  Lally- 
Tollendal,  the  hero  of  the  struggle  of  France  against  Eng- 
land in  India.  He  had  supported  the  falling  fortunes  of 
his  country,  without  succour,  in  a  distant  land ;  he  was 
beset  by  the  most  powerful  foes  on  earth  ;  was  denied  aid 
by  the  king's  feeble  and  corrupt  government,  and  lost, 
after  desperate  resistance,  the  French  domains,  which 
could  have  been  saved  by  one-tenth  of  the  troops  wasted 
to  please  Maria  Theresa,  and  one-twentieth  of  the  wealth 
lavished  upon  the  Pompadour  or  the  Du  Barry. 


xxxvin  LOUIS  THE  FIFTEENTH  667 

Returning  to  France,  Lally  was  tried  for  treason,  was 
convicted,  was  sent  to  the  scaffold  with  a  gag  in  his  mouth, 
and  executed  with  every  circumstance  of  petty  meanness 
that  could  break  the  great  heart  of  a  brave,  proud,  and 
unfortunate  man. 

A  few  years  after  his  death,  this  same  Parliament  of 
Paris  reviewed  its  former  decision,  and  reversed  it.  But 
Lally-Tollendal  was  dead. 

These  Parliaments  were  also  corrupt.  Arthur  Young 
says,  in  his  "Travels  in  France,"  that  he  found  French- 
men, here  and  there,  who  were  willing  to  say  something 
in  defence  of  the  government,  the  Parliaments  excepted. 
Nobody  spoke  a  good  word  for  them.  Every  one  con- 
demned them  as  venal,  tyrannical,  utterly  corrupt. 
"  Upon  almost  every  cause  that  came  before  them  interest 
was  openly  made  with  the  judges ;  and  woe  betided  the 
man  who,  with  a  cause  to  support,  had  no  means  of  con- 
ciliating favour,  either  by  the  beauty  of  a  handsome  wife, 
or  other  means." 

It  must  be  said,  however,  for  the  Parliament  of  Paris, 
that  whatever  spirit  of  protest  there  was  abroad  against 
the  tyranny  of  the  king  found  expression  there.  The 
edicts  of  the  monarch  could  not  be  legally  enforced  until 
they  had  been  registered  on  the  books  of  that  body.  The 
Parliament  could  refuse  to  register,  and  thus  thwart  the 
royal  will  for  the  moment.  The  king  must  then  come  in 
person  to  Parliament,  or  he  could  require  its  members 
to  come  before  him,  and  he  could  in  person  order  them  to 
register  the  decree.  In  this  case,  they  were  bound  to  do 
so.  They  had  no  legal  right  to  refuse.  Such  an  extraor- 
dinary assemblage  of  the  Parliament  was  called  "a  bed 
of  justice."  The  right  of  protest,  therefore,  was  a  very 


668  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

barren  one,  leading  to  nothing,  and  yet  the  lawyers  went 
on  protesting  for  several  hundred  years,  until  they  finally 
protested  the  French  monarchy  out  of  existence. 

The  Parliament  of  Paris  had  protested  when  Francis  I. 
surrendered  the  liberties  of  the  French  Church  to  Rome  ; 
it  had  protested  against  Richelieu  and  Mazarin  ;  it  had 
protested  against  the  encroachments  of  Louis  XIV. ;  it 
had  protested  against  the  worst  edicts  of  the  regency  ; 
it  had  repulsed  the  king  on  the  question  of  the  Jesuits  ; 
and  it  was  now  to  resist  him  resolutely  on  the  right 
claimed  by  him  to  forbid  their  trying  certain  cases. 

Nothing  shows  the  rapid  strides  which  the  spirit  of 
inquiry  and  of  independence  was  making  in  France  more 
plainly  than  the  conduct  of  the  Parliament  at  the  begin- 
ning of  Louis'  reign  and  at  its  close. 

In  1732,  when  the  judges  had  condemned  the  intolerant 
priests  on  the  question  of  the  bull  "  Unigenitus,"  the  king 
bade  them  let  religious  affairs  alone.  They  went  to  him 
and  presented  a  remonstrance.  He  replied:  "I  have  told 
you  my  will ;  it  must  be  executed.  I  want  no  remon- 
strances and  no  answers.  Be  more  obedient  and  attend 
to  your  legal  duties."  The  president  of  the  Parliament 
was  about  to  make  a  remark,  but  the  king  said,  "  Be  still," 
and  the  president  was  silent.  Another  one  of  the  judges 
presented  a  written  paper.  "Tear  it  up,"  said  the  king. 
It  was  torn  up  accordingly. 

Retiring  to  their  halls,  the  judges  determined  to  imi- 
tate the  Roman  senators.  They  defied  the  king,  who 
promptly  sent  them  away  from  Paris  into  the  country. 
This  cruel  punishment  soon  broke  the  Roman  spirit  of 
the  judges,  and  they  contritely  made  their  peace  with  the 
offended  monarch.  "We  know,"  said  they,  "that  he  is 


xxxvin  LOUIS  THE  FIFTEENTH  669 

master,  —  it  is  for  him  to  command  and  for  us  to 
obey." 

Now,  however,  the  Parliament  had  become  more 
stubborn. 

The  king  ordered  the  judges  to  suspend  the  trial  of  the 
Duke  of  Aiguillon,  who  had  been  accused  of  corrupt 
practices  in  his  government  of  Brittany.  The  Parliament 
of  Paris  protested  against  the  denial  of  justice,  and  the 
provincial  courts  boldly  took  sides  with  it. 

Chancellor  Maupeou,  a  resolute  and  able  man,  was  now 
at  the  head  of  the  king's  government,  and  he  met  the 
crisis  with  remarkable  courage.  He  issued  an  edict  in 
which  all  the  misdeeds  of  the  Parliament  were  recited, 
and  in  which  they  were  bidden  to  cease  their  opposition 
to  the  royal  mandate. 

The  judges  were  indignant  at  this  decree,  and  popular 
sympathy  was  with  them.  The  Duke  of  Aiguillon  was 
believed  to  be  a  criminal,  and  the  effort  of  the  king  to 
screen  him  was  thought  to  be  the  result  of  some  intrigue. 

The  judges  announced  that  so  long  as  the  insulting 
edict  remained  in  force,  they  would  hear  no  more  cases. 
If  they  were  not  to  be  allowed  to  try  the  Duke  of 
Aiguillon,  they  would  not  try  anybody. 

Thus  the  administration  of  justice  came  to  a  full  stop. 
Litigants  could  not  get  their  cases  heard,  lawyers  could 
make  no  fees,  clerks  and  bailiffs  could  earn  no  salaries 
and  no  perquisites.  Here  was  a  pretty  state  of  things, 
truly.  Litigants  with  untried  cases  growled ;  lawyers 
bereft  of  fees  growled  ;  minor  court  officials,  shorn  of 
costs,  growled ;  and  the  Parisian  public,  sympathizing 
with  them  all,  growled  likewise. 

But  Maupeou   was  full   of  pluck.     He   decided   that 


670  THE   STOEY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

judges  who  refused  to  adjudicate  should  be  ousted  from 
their  judgeships,  resolving  to  abolish  the  whole  business 
and  make  new  courts,  fashioned  after  better  models. 

Late  in  the  night  of  January  19,  1771,  each  judge 
received  a  call  from  two  of  the  king's  soldiers,  who  asked 
to  be  told  briefly,  yes  or  no,  whether  the  judge  meant 
to  obey  the  king  and  begin  to  try  cases  again.  A  major- 
ity of  the  judges  answered  no.  Those  who  answered 
yes  gathered  courage  next  morning  and  joined  their 
colleagues. 

Thereupon  Maupeou  exiled  them  all  to  various  parts 
of  provincial  France  and  abolished  their  offices. 

He  created  six  new  courts,  on  a  vastly  improved  plan, 
and  during  the  remainder  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XV. 
they  administered  justice  in  France. 

The  dissolution  of  the  Parliament  of  Paris  created  an 
immense  stir.  It  quickened  the  spirit  of  inquiry  and  of 
innovation.  The  tearing  down  of  the  judicial  fabric 
shook  the  entire  edifice  of  the  monarchy.  If  a  Parlia- 
ment were  worthless  and  could  be  abolished,  were  not 
other  institutions  of  the  kingdom  worthless,  and  could 
they  not  be  abolished  also? 

The  Parliament  of  Paris,  the  only  body  which  could 
protest  in  behalf  of  the  people  against  usurpations  of  the 
king,  was  gone, — how  were  the  people  now  to  be  heard? 

"  Convoke  the  States  General,"  said  the  Parliaments  of 
Dijon,  Brittany,  and  Normandy. 

This  demand,  so  ominous  to  the  monarchy,  found 
favour  among  the  people,  and  from  that  time  it  gathered 
force. 

But  Louis  XV.  was  immovable.  Every  prince  of  the 
blood,  but  one,  solemnly  protested  against  his  action  as  a 


xxxviii  LOUIS   THE   FIFTEENTH  671 

violation  of  the  fundamental  law  of  the  realm.  The  old 
king,  who  is  usually  represented  as  being  so  weak,  not 
only  refused  to  yield,  but  he  seized  their  protest,  threw  it 
into  the  fire,  and  forbade  the  princes  to  appear  again  in 
his  presence. 

Calling  his  judges  and  officials  before  him,  he  said, 
"  You  hear  my  will ;  I  forbid  any  deliberation  contrary 
to  my  edicts;  I  shall  never  change." 

Compare  this  speech  with  that  made  forty  years  before, 
and  it  will  be  seen  that  they  are  in  substance  the  same. 
Times  had  changed,  the  people  had  changed,  the  Parlia- 
ments had  changed,  but  the  king  was  the  same,  and  he 
remained  so. 

At  a  later  day,  when  Louis  XVI.  had  convoked  the 
States  General  and  loosed  the  wild  horses  of  political 
passion,  the  older  courtiers  would  say,  "  Ah,  if  Louis  XV. 
had  lived,  this  would  never  have  happened."  It  might 
have  happened,  nevertheless,  but  it  would  never  have 
come  in  that  way.  Louis  XV.  was  hopelessly  deficient  in 
aggressiveness,  but  he  was  full  of  the  power  of  inertia,  of 
resistance  to  governmental  change. 

If  Louis  XVI.  had  not  reestablished  the  Parliaments,  it 
is  difficult  to  see  how  the  spirit  of  revolt  would  have 
found  its  nucleus.  With  the  privilege  of  protest  which 
the  Parliament  of  Paris  held  and  exercised,  it  was  becom- 
ing increasingly  formidable.  Louis  XV.  realized  this  and 
snuffed  it  out.  Louis  XVI.  did  not  see  it,  and  called 
them  back.  They  were  not  made  more  timid  by  their 
victory,  and  the  right  of  protest  grew  rapidly  into  disobe- 
dience, defiance,  and  resistance.  Without  intending  to  do 
so,  the  elderly  lawyers  who  wore  gowns  and  wigs  set  fire 
to  the  powder  train  of  the  greatest  revolution  in  history. 


CHAPTER   XXXIX 

LAST  YEAKS   OF   LOUIS   THE   FIFTEENTH 

A  S  the  old  king  neared  his  end,  the  system  of  which  he 
was  the  head  showed  many  signs  of  giving  way. 

The  finances  were  in  the  most  wretched  confusion. 
The  ministers  themselves  could  give  no  clear  account  of 
the  public  debt.  One  imposing  fact,  however,  made 
itself  most  distinctly  obvious  :  the  annual  outgo  was 
exceeding  the  annual  income  by  about  41,000,000  livres. 

The  Abbe  Terray,  comptroller  of  the  finances,  repudi- 
ated nearly  one-third  of  the  national  debt,  and  mortgaged 
the  revenues  of  some  departments  for  ten  years  in  advance. 

The  system  of  collecting  the  taxes  was  so  bad  that  the 
farmers-general  bought  for  23,000,000  livres  a  tax  levy  out 
of  which  they  realized  40,000,000.  By  allowing  certain 
courtiers  to  share  in  the  profit,  the  government  con- 
tractors could  obtain  almost  anything  they  demanded. 

The  king's  own  daughters  shared  these  bribes.  In  fact, 
the  farmers-general  were  absolute  masters  of  the  fiscal 
department.  They  controlled  the  royal  edicts,  the  courts, 
and  the  taxpayers.  Upon  the  slightest  suspicion  of  smug- 
gling, or  of  otherwise  avoiding  the  payment  of  dues,  the 
farmers-general  would  cause  the  taxpayer  to  be  thrown 
into  prison.  During  the  long  reign  of  Louis  XV.  the 
taxes  had  grown  from  165,000,000  to  365,000,000  livres. 

The  inequalities  in  taxation  were  amazing.  The  great 

672 


CHAP,  xxxix    LAST  YEARS  OF  LOUIS  THE  FIFTEENTH        673 

mass  of  the  people  owned  the  smallest  share  of  the  wealth, 
and  almost  the  entire  expenses  of  the  government  fell 
upon  them.  About  one-fifth  of  the  land  belonged  to 
peasant  proprietors,  and  from  the  little  farms  of  the  poor 
an  unjust  system  of  taxation  took  the  greater  part  of  the 
immense  sums  which  were  spent  by  king,  priest,  and  the 
noble. 

In  1740,  Massillon  writes  :  "  The  people  of  our  country 
live  in  misery;  they  have  neither  furniture  nor  beds; 
during  part  of  the  year  most  of  them  have  no  food  except 
oaten  bread.  The  negroes  of  our  islands  are  happier." 

The  most  moderate  estimate  of  recent  historians  is  that 
one-half  of  the  gross  product  of  the  farm  was  taken  for 
the  king's  taxes  ;  after  this  came  the  tithes  due  to  the 
Church  and  the  feudal  dues  claimed  by  the  noble. 

Living  upon  such  a  narrow  margin  as  these  taxes 
allowed  him,  the  life  of  a  peasant  was  a  haggard  existence 
at  best ;  in  seasons  of  dearth,  starvation  was  bound  to 
come  and  carry  off  wretched  victims  by  the  score. 

These  little  farms  did  not  exceed  twenty  acres ;  indeed, 
they  rarely  contained  so  much.  Farms  of  ten  acres  were 
large  for  the  peasant ;  those  of  five  acres,  of  one  acre,  of 
half  an  acre,  and  even  less,  were  the  slender  streams  from 
which  flowed  the  wealth  of  France. 

Turning  from  the  always  ill-clad,  ill-fed,  and  ill-housed 
peasant,  laboriously  digging  out  of  the  soil  the  money 
needed  by  the  king  and  his  courtiers,  let  us  see  the  size  of 
the  domains  owned  by  those  who  were  almost  wholly  ex- 
cused from  paying  taxes;  and  not  only  that,  but  who 
were,  by  way  of  pensions,  gifts,  salaries,  perquisites,  and 
feudal  dues,  receiving  a  very  large  share  of  the  taxes  paid 
by  the  peasants. 

2x 


674  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

Like  corporations  of  the  modern  State,  the  privileged 
classes  of  France  not  only  escaped  just  taxation,  but  were 
allowed  to  fatten  upon  the  taxes  paid  by  the  unprivileged. 

Taine  numbers  the  nobility  at  140,000  and  the  clergy 
at  130,000;  these  two  orders  composed  the  privileged 
classes.  The  peasants  numbered  about  15,000,000.  The 
remainder  were  merchants,  artisans,  professional  men,  etc. 

The  princes  of  the  royal  family  owned  one-seventh  of 
the  soil  of  France,  with  an  annual  revenue  of  about 
24,000,000  livres.  One-fifth  of  the  soil  of  the  kingdom 
belonged  to  the  monarch. 

The  personal  expenses  of  the  king  devoured  40,000,000 
livres  annually.  Madame  de  Pompadour  had  her  estates, 
her  palaces,  and  her  average  of  2,000,000  livres  per  year, 
during  the  nineteen  years  of  her  profligate  reign. 

The  great  nobles  —  the  Condes,  Aiguillons,  Bouillons  — 
owned  estates  which  stretched  for  miles,  included  popu- 
lous towns,  and  equalled  principalities  in  richness  and 
extent.  On  Conde's  estate  there  was  a  city  of  40,000 
inhabitants.  The  Duke  of  Orleans  had  a  rent-roll  of  a 
million. 

Among  the  higher  clergy,  the  same  excess  of  wealth 
was  found.  The  archbishop  of  Rouen  had  a  yearly  in- 
come of  230,000  livres ;  the  archbishop  of  Narbonne 
280,000;  the  archbishop  of  Paris  300,000.  There  were 
eighteen  archbishops  whose  incomes  were  about  as  large 
as  these,  and  130  bishops  whose  revenues  were  about 
100,000  livres  each. 

With  a  cardinal  the  situation  was  even  more  opulent. 
Cardinal  de  Rohan  enjoyed  an  income  of  800,000  livres, 
owned  a  palace  equal  to  the  king's,  kept  180  horses  in 
his  stables,  and  could  seat  800  guests  in  his  banquet  halls. 


LAST  YEARS  OF  LOUIS  THE  FIFTEENTH  676 

Cardinal  Bernis  spent  500,000  livres  a  year,  and  Cardinal 
de  Bouillon's  establishment  was  equally  regal. 

While  the  princes  of  the  Church  were  thus  emulating 
Dives,  the  lower  clergy,  the  cures,  did  all  the  work,  and 
got  almost  none  of  the  pay.  A  majority  of  these  parish 
priests  received  less  than  one  hundred  dollars  per  year ; 
many  of  them  less  than  forty  dollars.  When  the  day  of 
judgment  arrived,  a  few  years  later,  these  parish  priests 
who  had  lived  in  touch  with  the  people  and  shared  their 
hardships,  were  among  the  most  ardent  revolutionists. 

Yet  an  established  institution,  hoary  with  age,  continues 
to  stand,  year  in  and  year  out,  by  mere  force  of  the  fact 
that  it  is  there.  One  vigorous  push  might  topple  it  over, 
but  until  that  push  is  resolutely  given,  it  stands. 

So  low  had  France  fallen  in  European  politics  that 
Poland  was  deliberately  cut  up  and  divided  between 
Russia,  Prussia,  and  Austria,  without  it  being  thought 
necessary  to  consult  France  at  all. 

Louis,  in  his  indifferent  way,  merely  said,  "  Ah,  if  Choi- 
seul  were  only  here ! "  As  for  the  Du  Barry,  she  asked, 
"  Where  is  Poland  ?  " 

While  the  king  was  letting  events  carry  him  where  they 
would,  there  were  certain  scholars,  thinkers,  book-makers, 
busily  engaged  in  undermining  the  foundations  of  the 
monarchy. 

Montesquieu,  Diderot,  D'Alembert,  Voltaire,  Rousseau, 
and  Holbach  were  fearlessly  assailing  established  wrong, 
mercilessly  exposing  it,  and  clamorously  demanding  re- 
form. 

The  intellect  of  France  had  been  exceedingly  slow  in 
its  progress  toward  independence  of  thought  and  expres- 
sion. No  matter  how  clearly  it  might  appear  to  literary 


676  THE   STORY  OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

men  that  things  were  going  wrong,  both  in  Church  and 
State,  they  dared  not  raise  the  standard  of  opposition. 
Montaigne  was  probably  at  heart  a  sceptic  and  a  rebel, 
but  he  let  his  pen  lead  him  no  further  than  the  writing  of 
rambling,  good-humoured,  and  instructive  essays,  in  which 
he  suggests  more  than  he  says.  There  is  none  of  the 
Jeremiah  in  Montaigne,  none  of  the  Voltaire.  He  writes 
in  the  vein  of  a  shrewd,  easy-going  man  of  the  world,  who 
realizes  that  abuses  of  many  sorts  exist  around  him,  but 
who  considers  it  none  of  his  business  to  become  responsible 
for  the  universe. 

Rabelais  may  have  intended  to  satirize  kings,  nobles, 
and  priests  in  his  monstrous  stories,  and  may  have  been 
consumed  by  the  fires  of  a  just  indignation  at  the  greed, 
corruption,  and  hypocrisy  of  those  in  authority,  but  he 
disguised  his  attack  so  completely  that  even  now  no  one 
can  say  with  certainty  what  he  meant. 

In  those  days,  the  fear  of  harsh  and  hopeless  punish- 
ment stifled  the  voice  of  protest.  It  was  so  easy  to  get 
a  citizen  into  prison,  and  so  difficult  to  get  him  out  again, 
that  it  required  the  utmost  intrepidity  to  nerve  the  re- 
former to  his  work. 

Any  influential  noble,  tax-farmer,  or  priest  could 
secure  a  "Letter  of  the  Seal,"  which  warrants  of  arrest 
were  frequently  issued  in  blank.  Armed  with  one  of 
these,  the  prosecutor  could  imprison  his  victims  without 
the  slightest  trouble.  Once  in  jail,  the  prisoner  might 
lie  there  till  he  rotted,  unless  he  had  influential  friends 
who  would  exert  themselves  in  his  behalf.  There  was  no 
legal  machinery  by  which  the  prisoner  could  obtain  relief. 
There  was  no  habeas  corpus  which  the  humblest  could 
demand  and  the  proudest  dared  not  refuse.  Many  and 


xxxix         LAST  YEARS   OF  LOUIS  THE  FIFTEENTH  677 

many  a  year  was  yet  to  pass  before  the  laws  would  be  so 
reformed  that  a  prisoner's  right  to  demand  a  speedy 
trial  would  be  recognized. 

Many  a  poet  languished  in  prison  for  verses  deriding 
the  manners  of  the  great,  censuring  their  morals,  or  ridi- 
culing their  pride.  Many  a  philosopher,  his  books  con- 
demned for  heresy,  expiated  in  dark  dungeons  the  crime 
of  wishing  to  give  the  people  freedom  of  thought. 

The  Bastille  was  convenient,  and  the  Letters  of  the 
Seal  furnished  a  weapon  which  could  be  used  suddenly, 
secretly,  and  effectually,  to  silence  any  agitator  who 
raised  a  discordant  doubt  as  to  the  purity  of  a  royal 
mistress,  the  honesty  of  a  tax-farmer,  the  continence  of 
a  priest,  or  the  patriotism  and  virtue  of  a  nobleman. 

Nevertheless,  as  the  French  crown  gradually  lost  its 
radiance,  men  began  to  think  more  freely  and  to  talk 
more  boldly.  Reverence  for  the  monarchy  wore  away 
as  men  saw  more  of  its  glory  depart. 

Louis  XI.  had  been  bad,  but  he  was  strong.  Francis  I. 
had  been  unfortunate,  but  he  was  active,  brave,  liberal, 
sociable,  and  manly.  Henry  IV.  had  been  dissolute, 
but  he  was  gallant,  good-hearted,  and  victorious.  Louis 
XIV.  had  been  tyrannical,  and  unfortunate  in  his  wars, 
but  he  was  a  man  of  power,  too  strong  to  be  combated 
by  any  known  method  at  that  time.  The  perfection  of 
the  system  which  Louis  XI.  had  devised,  and  Richelieu 
completed,  was  that  it  left  to  the  people  no  power  of 
initiative.  If  the  army  and  the  officials  remained  loyal, 
successful  revolt  was  practically  impossible. 

But  under  Louis  XV.  conditions  had  been  rapidly 
changing.  The  good  generals  had  all  died,  and  the 
French  armies  had  been  ruinously  defeated  wherever  they 


678  THE   STOEY   OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

had  fought.  The  military  prestige  of  the  monarchy  was 
gone.  The  people  were  ashamed  of  the  army  and  angered 
at  those  who  were  responsible  for  its  decay. 

Again  the  Parliament  had  shown  that  it  was  possible  to 
defy  the  king  and  not  die  instantly.  The  suppression  of 
the  Jesuits  had  been  accomplished  in  spite  of  the  royal 
will.  This  was  doubly  significant,  for  it  taught  the  peo- 
ple that  resistance  could  be  made  successful,  and  it  like- 
wise pulled  down  one  of  the  strongest  supports  of  the 
monarchy.  The  Jesuits  were  a  bulwark  to  the  throne, 
no  less  than  to  the  papacy,  for  their  own  interests  were 
involved  in  checking  every  democratic  tendency  in  the 
State.  They  were  dangerous  to  monarchs  who  resisted 
their  influence,  but  between  an  unfriendly  king  and  the 
growth  of  the  democratic  spirit  they  could  not  have  hesi- 
tated a  moment  in  supporting  the  king. 

A  very  important  factor  in  the  change  which  was  taking 
place  was  the  listless  character  of  Louis  XV.  To  sup- 
press the  rising  clamour  of  discontent  would  have  required 
continuity  of  effort,  seriously  applied,  and  Louis  XV.  was 
the  one  man  who  did  not  intend  to  make  any  continuous 
effort  in  any  troublesome  direction.  He  was  quite  willing 
that  malcontents  should  suffer,  but  others  must  prosecute. 
He  would  not  trouble  himself  about  it.  He  much  pre- 
ferred to  cook  dainty  dishes  in  a  careless,  amateurish  way, 
turn  a  snuff-box  out  of  wood,  cultivate  lightly  a  few 
flowers  and  vegetables,  hunt  stags  and  partridges,  rove 
from  palace  to  palace,  or  dawdle  from  one  courtesan  to 
another  in  his  own  private  peculiar  seraglio,  known  in 
scandalous  chronicles  as  the  "  Pare  aux  Cerfs  "  —  the  deer 
park. 

While   Beaumarchais   or  Voltaire   might   be  laughing 


xxxix         LAST  YEARS  OF  LOUIS  THE  FIFTEENTH  679 

French  royalty  away,  exposing  it  to  utter  contempt  and 
ridicule,  Louis  would  be  feasting  in  that  famous  room  of 
the  Petit  Trianon,  where  dumb  waiters  served  the  guests, 
—  the  king  and  his  boon  companions  were  not  wearing 
even  so  much  as  Mother  Eve's  fig-leaf. 

While  the  encyclopedists  and  Rousseau  and  Holbach 
might  be  drilling  mine  after  mine  beneath  the  fortress  of 
royalty,  and  charging  every  mine  with  powder,  and  lay- 
ing the  match  ready  to  the  hand  of  the  incendiary,  Louis 
XV.  would  be  conducting  a  personal  canvass  among  the 
noble  ladies  of  his  court  in  behalf  of  Madame  du  Barry, 
who  had  found  favour  in  his  eyes,  to  the  intense  chagrin 
of  the  noble  duchesses  and  princesses,  each  of  whom  had 
hoped  herself  to  be  lifted  to  the  position  of  Royal  Mistress. 

Conversing  with  the  Princess  de  Beauvau,  in  after 
years,  Madame  du  Barry  exclaimed,  "How  you  all  did 
hate  me  in  those  days  ! " 

"  Hate  you  !  "  replied  the  princess,  "  not  at  all ;  we  only 
wanted  your  place." 

During  the  latter  half  of  the  reign,  the  literature  of 
discontent  constantly  grew  in  volume  and  in  boldness. 

Montesquieu  had  cautiously  examined  the  "spirit  of 
the  laws,"  and  had  insinuated,  rather  than  said,  that  the 
English  system  was  better  than  the  French. 

Voltaire  had  served  a  term  or  two  in  the  Bastille,  and 
had  fled  to  escape  other  admonitions  of  the  same  sort. 
He  had  wandered  hither  and  thither  all  over  Europe  and 
into  England,  a  person  not  liked  by  the  dignitaries  of 
either  Church  or  State.  Wherever  he  went,  he  talked 
and  wrote  incessantly.  He  was  the  incarnation  of  intel- 
lectual discontent,  and  his  courage  was  equal  to  his 
activity.  Even  in  flight  from  persecution,  he  shot  back 


680  THE   STORY   OF  FEANCE  CHAP. 

burning  arrows  of  ridicule  and  invective.  An  exile  from 
France,  his  books  poured  across  the  frontiers  like  lawless 
invaders,  assailing  abuses  of  all  kinds.  He  hated  tyranny 
in  all  its  forms.  He  despised  superstition  in  all  its  varie- 
ties. He  loved  liberty,  freedom  of  speech,  of  thought, 
of  conscience.  His  life  was  one  long  battle  against 
ecclesiastical  oppression,  political  abuses,  and  literary 
frauds. 

He  was  a  born  revolutionary  and  innovator.  He  found 
the  French  mind  terrorized,  the  French  tongue  mute; 
he  found  religion  degraded  to  a  superstition ;  he  found 
the  world  of  letters  under  the  dominion  of  kings  and 
priests. 

This  state  of  things  he  fiercely  assailed,  and  when  he 
died  he  had  lived  to  see  a  servile  people  emboldened 
sufficiently  to  rise  up  in  spontaneous  enthusiasm  and 
crown  him  with  flowers ;  had  lived  to  see  the  terror  pass 
away  from  the  minds  of  men,  and  to  hear  free  speech 
proclaiming  at  every  street  corner  the  doctrines  of  a  new 
and  better  political  faith. 

Reader,  think  twice  before  you  join  the  priest  in  revil- 
ing Voltaire.  He  was  a  great  warrior  for  human  liberty 
at  a  time  when  warfare  for  human  rights  meant  persecu- 
tion, meant  dungeons,  meant  banishment,  meant,  fre- 
quently, death.  He  rent  chains  which  might  have  bound 
you  and  me  ;  let  us  honour  him. 

Rousseau  is  another  whose  entire  life  was  consecrated  to 
warfare  upon  the  ancien  regime. 

His  "  Social  Contract "  was  the  Bible  of  the  revolution. 
Almost  a  lunatic  in  many  respects,  he  was  a  wonderful 
artist  with  words,  a  most  inflammable  agitator  in  the 
world  of  ideas.  He  denied  the  right  to  private  owner- 


xxxix          LAST   YEARS   OF   LOUIS   THE   FIFTEENTH  681 

ship  of  land  ;  he  proclaimed  the  felicity  of  a  state  of 
nature  ;  he  dreamed  of  a  government  in  which  wrong, 
oppression,  and  inequality  would  not  be  found.  Byron 
called  him  "the  apostle  of  affliction."  Well  he  might  be. 
He  had  been  under  the  wheels  all  his  life,  and  naturally 
he  did  not  love  those  who  rode  at  ease  in  the  coach.  He 
hated  the  rich  and  the  powerful,  was  insanely  suspicious, 
restless,  and  irritable. 

The  political,  religious,  judicial,  and  social  systems 
which  prevailed  at  the  time  were  all  vicious  ;  artificiality, 
tyranny,  corruption,  tainted  them  all.  Therefore  Rous- 
seau believed  that  human  misery  found  its  source  in  bad 
laws  and  unnatural  institutions.  He  wanted  these  arti- 
ficial barriers  to  human  happiness  torn  down  and  natural 
conditions  restored. 

Rousseau  was  in  no  sense  of  the  word  a  practical 
man.  He  was  a  dismal  failure  at  everything  but  book- 
making.  No  living  creature,  man  or  woman,  ever  found 
it  possible  to  be  his  friend  unless  distance  kept  them 
apart. 

Yet  while  he  could  not  live  in  pleasant  relations  with 
anybody  on  earth,  he  was  the  most  passionate  preacher 
of  the  brotherhood  of  man  that  ever  breathed. 

He  told  all  the  world  how  to  live  the  life  angelical ; 
yet  the  furies  drove  him  onward  without  a  moment's 
peace.  It  was  only  at  long  range  that  men  could  like  the 
mad,  fantastic,  jealous,  and  suspicious  apostle  of  universal 
brotherhood  and  love. 

Very  beautifully  indeed  he  taught  all  the  world  how  to 
educate  children.  One  would  have  thought  he  loved 
children  as  a  miser  loves  gold,  as  a  flower  loves  dew. 
His  book  seemed  to  emanate  from  a  nature  filled  with 


682  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

parental  fondness,  yet,  as  fast  as  his  own  children  were 
born,  he  packed  them  off  to  the  foundling  hospital,  and 
never  afterwards  saw  them,  or  let  the  mother  see  them. 
An  effort  was  made  by  others  to  trace  these  children  after 
he  became  famous,  but  those  who  undertook  it  reported 
that  his  offspring  could  not  be  identified.  But  while 
Rousseau's  character  reveals  these  amazing  faults  and 
inconsistencies,  it  is  equally  true  that  he  had  lofty  ideals 
of  government  and  of  right  living. 

"  Man  is  man's  brother,"  said  he  ;  "  in  this  world  there 
are  no  masters  and  no  slaves  ;  or,  at  least,  there  should 
be  none.  Where  now  there  is  nothing  but  guilty  luxury 
on  one  side,  and  hopeless  misery  on  the  other,  there  ought 
to  be  equality,  love,  brotherhood,  and  happiness." 

In  his  ideal  government,  the  people  are  at  once  rulers 
and  subjects.  The  king  is  not  the  State  ;  the  people  are 
the  State.  Sovereign  power  does  not  originate  with  any 
pompous  fraud  calling  himself  the  "  Lord's  anointed  "  ;  it 
emanates  from  all  the  people  in  their  collective  capacity. 
Making  laws  for  the  State,  the  people  are  sovereign  ; 
obeying  those  laws,  the  people  are  subjects  ;  sharing  in 
the  benefits  of  government,  the  people  are  citizens,  all 
equal  before  the  law. 

Sovereign  power  being  vested  in  the  people,  the  right  is 
theirs  to  change  the  laws,  the  constitution,  and  the  govern- 
ment. The  ruler  is  but  the  agent,  the  servant.  If  the 
king  breaks  his  contract  with  the  people  to  govern  justly, 
the  people  can  depose  him  and  select  another  servant. 

The  moment  a  people  elect  representatives  they  are 
lost.  They  should  keep  the  sovereign  power  in  their 
own  hands  at  all  times.  Every  law  should  be  ratified  by 
the  people  directly,  not  by  representatives.  The  Eng- 


xxxix         LAST  YEARS  OF  LOUIS  THE   FIFTEENTH  683 

lish,  he  said,  were  only  free  during  the  elections  ;  when 
the  Parliament  was  once  elected,  the  people  no  longer 
controlled  the  members. 

The  people,  he  said,  should  hold  periodical  assemblies, 
in  which  every  citizen  should  join.  These  assemblies 
would  resolve  the  people  into  the  original  independence, 
the  government  being  suspended  until  these  assemblies 
renewed  the  contract  with  the  government.  At  the 
opening  of  these  assemblies,  two  questions  should  first  be 
voted  on.  The  first  is  this  :  "  Is  it  the  pleasure  of  the 
sovereign  people  to  maintain  the  present  form  of  govern- 
ment?" The  second  question  is  :  "Do  the  sovereign 
people  wish  to  leave  the  administration  of  the  government 
in  the  hands  of  the  present  incumbents  ?  " 

The  fundamental  idea  is  that  the  leaders  of  the  people 
exercise  such  power  as  the  people  delegate  to  them,  and 
that  the  people  can  at  any  time  depose  these  leaders, 
limit  their  authority,  enlarge  their  powers,  or  abolish 
their  offices. 

All  this  sounds  commonplace  now,  perhaps,  but  there 
was  a  startling  novelty  about  it  in  the  days  of  Rousseau. 

His  influence  upon  the  political  thought  of  his  day 
cannot  be  exaggerated.  There  was  a  frenzied  earnestness 
about  his  manner  of  presenting  his  ideas,  and  they 
burned  themselves  deep  into  the  hearts  and  minds  of  all 
classes  of  men.  Not  realizing  the  tendencies  of  Rous- 
seau's teachings,  the  aristocrats  read  his  books  as  eagerly 
as  the  middle  classes. 

In  assailing  the  abuses  of  the  governmental  system  then 
prevailing,  Rousseau  was  unanswerable.  To  his  indict- 
ment against  the  artificial  barriers  to  human  happiness 
which  the  privileged  classes  had  built,  all  impartial 


684  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

hearers  had  to  answer  "Guilty."  But  it  is  one  thing  to 
diagnose,  and  quite  another  to  cure. 

When  Rousseau  draws  us  the  picture  of  man  in  his 
natural  state,  we  see  at  once  that  he  knows  nothing  of 
human  nature.  The  ideal  men  of  his  ideal  State  are  all 
good  men  ;  every  citizen  is  a  patriot  and  a  gentleman. 
There  are  no  men  who  want  to  cheat  their  fellows  in 
Rousseau's  State.  No  strong  man  fells  the  weak ;  no 
corrupt  man  seeks  his  own  advancement  at  the  expense 
of  the  State. 

The  very  best  men  are  chosen  for  office  in  the  State  of 
Rousseau.  The  evil-minded  men  are  all  expelled.  What 
the  majority  desires  done  is  always  wise  in  the  State  of 
Rousseau,  and  the  minority  always  cheerfully  acquiesces, 
feuds  and  factions  being  easily  controlled  in  that  happy 
land. 

Honest  elections  always  prevail  in  the  State  of 
Rousseau.  No  bribe  is  ever  given,  no  ballot-box  ever 
stuffed,  no  votes  ever  thrown  out,  and  none  ever  re- 
peated. 

The  human  types  with  which  we  have  grown  familiar 
do  not  exist  in  his  ideal  commonwealth ;  the  human 
tiger,  the  human  fox,  the  human  hyena,  the  human  snake, 
are  species  unknown  in  those  Elysian  fields  ;  doves  are 
there,  but  no  hawks  ;  lambs  are  there,  but  no  wolves  ; 
innocence  is  there,  but  no  guilt. 

God  deliver  us  from  the  man  of  nature  unchecked 
by  fear  of  punishment,  unrepressed  by  the  weight  of 
law  and  order,  untamed  by  social  amenities,  unawed  by 
the  gospel  of  the  hereafter  ! 

One  of  the  wildest  of  vagaries  is  this  dream  of  the 
purity,  inoffensiveness,  and  general  loveliness  of  the 


xxxix          LAST  YEARS   OF  LOUIS  THE  FIFTEENTH  685 

man  of  nature.  The  nearer  we  come  to  tracing  man 
back  to  an  actual  state  of  nature,  the  nearer  we  come 
to  finding  a  savage  brute,  who  eats  raw  meat,  wears  no 
clothes,  loves  dirt,  hates  peace,  wallows  in  nastiness,  and 
kills  the  weaker  man  whenever  the  temptation  and  the 
opportunity  coincide. 

Diderot  was  another  of  the  destructive  forces  which 
assailed  the  old  regime.  Acting  upon  a  suggestion 
which  originated  with  Bacon  and  was  partly  realized 
by  Chambers,  Diderot  conceived  the  colossal  design  of 
publishing  an  encyclopaedia  which  should  be  a  vast 
magazine  of  human  knowledge.  He  called  to  his  assist- 
ance many  companion  spirits,  and  in  1751  the  first 
volume  appeared,  the  second  in  1752.  The  clergy 
cried  out  against  the  work,  and  the  government  sup- 
pressed it  and  seized  the  plates.  In  a  few  months, 
however,  the  government  receded  from  its  position, 
Diderot  regained  the  plates,  and  by  1757  seven  vol- 
umes had  been  published.  In  1759,  the  opposition  of 
the  clergy  again  broke  out,  and  a  royal  edict  annulled  the 
privilege  of  publishing  the  work  and  prohibited  the 
sale  of  the  volumes  already  issued.  D'Alembert  lost 
heart  and  left  him  ;  but  Diderot  persisted  in  his  labours, 
utterly  regardless  of  the  king's  commands.  In  1765, 
the  remaining  ten  volumes  were  given  to  the  world. 
Thus  for  sixteen  years  had  Diderot  devoted  himself  to 
the  great  work.  With  the  help  of  a  few  friends  he  had 
accomplished  a  vast  and  useful  undertaking,  one  which 
gave  to  France  the  benefit  of  whatever  was  known  in 
science  and  art,  in  literature  and  history,  in  government 
and  religion,  in  philosophy  and  political  economy. 

At  a  time  when  commerce  was   shackled  by  all  sorts 


688  THE  STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

of  tariffs,  external  and  internal,  when  a  boat-load  of 
wheat  going  down  the  Seine  to  Paris  paid  duties  at 
sixteen  custom-houses,  and  when  the  French  farmer  of 
Artois  was  not  allowed  to  sell  his  wheat  in  the  French 
province  of  Berry,  the  encyclopedists  boldly  advocated 
the  doctrine  of  free  trade. 

At  a  time  when  the  Church  and  the  State  composedly 
regarded  the  slave-trade  as  a  legitimate  business,  which 
must  not  be  questioned,  these  courageous  writers  of  the 
Encyclopaedia  championed  the  cause  of  human  freedom 
and  denounced  the  infamous  traffic. 

All  governmental  abuses  were  explained  and  con- 
demned. The  forced  labour  of  the  peasants,  the  royal 
monopoly  of  salt,  and  the  unjust  method  of  imposing 
and  collecting  the  taxes,  were  subjects  which  received 
intelligent  and  fearless  treatment.  Remedial  laws  were 
suggested  for  the  first  time,  and  many  of  the  reforms 
afterwards  made  should  be  credited  to  the  encyclopedists. 

For  the  immense  amount  of  work  done  on  this  work, 
Diderot  received  the  mere  pittance  of  $600  a  year. 

Helvetius  was  yet  another  who  set  people  to  the  task  of 
thinking.  Having  accumulated  as  much  money  as  he 
wanted  in  plundering  the  people  through  the  means  of 
farming  the  taxes,  he  left  the  business  and  became  a 
philosopher.  He  entertained  freely,  drew  about  him  a 
company  of  free-thinkers,  and  in  1759  published  a  book 
which  caused  immense  scandal.  He  contended  that  the 
general  utility,  the  happiness  of  all,  was  the  true  test  by 
which  conduct  must  be  regulated,  and  to  reach  which 
laws  should  be  framed.  Thus  an  enlightened  selfishness, 
the  Church  party  exclaimed,  was  to  be  the  rule  of  con- 
duct rather  than  the  old  rule  of  right  and  wrong.  Hel- 


xxxix         LAST  YEARS  OF  LOUIS  THE  FIFTEENTH  687 

vetius  also  contended  that  the  only  thing  which  made 
men  prefer  virtue  to  vice  was  the  prospect  of  advantage. 
He  said  men  were  honest,  not  because  it  was  right  to  be 
honest,  but  because  it  was  the  best  policy. 

Society  was  profoundly  shocked.  The  virtuous  people, 
who  occupied  the  high  places,  made  a  tremendous  noise. 
The  official  who  had  allowed  the  book  printed  was  sum- 
marily dismissed,  the  book  itself  was  condemned  by  the 
Pope  and  by  the  Sorbonne,  and  it  was  burnt  by  the 
hangman.  Helvetius  was  ousted  from  a  small  office  he 
held  at  court,  and  was  made  to  sign  a  humiliating  retrac- 
tion. 

But  the  book  had  gone  forth,  and  no  amount  of  retrac- 
tion could  actually  recall  it.  In  their  innermost  souls 
many  people  believed  that  Helvetius  was  right  in  his  con- 
clusions. As  Madame  du  Deffand  said,  "  They  make  so 
much  ado  about  Helvetius  because  he  has  revealed  every- 
body's secret." 

A  fiercer,  darker  spirit  in  this  creation  of  a  world  of 
new  ideas  was  Holbach,  a  German  baron  who  lived  at 
Paris,  and  who  published  many  books  against  government 
and  religion. 

"  The  dogma  of  a  future  life,"  he  wrote,  "  is  one  of  the 
most  fatal  errors  with  which  humanity  has  been  infested. 
The  religions  of  the  future  world  have  helped  the  priest 
to  conquer  this  one." 

"  He  believed,"  says  Perkins  in  his  "  France  under  Louis 
XV.,"  "that  the  Church  and  the  established  system  of 
theology  had  debased  human  intelligence,  lessened  human 
activity,  inculcated  selfishness,  and  lowered  morality.  He 
declared  that  nature  had  taught  man  to  be  free,  to  be 
happy,  to  be  patriotic,  to  search  for  the  truth,  and  to  serve 


688  THE   STORY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

his  fellow-man ;  religion  taught  him  that  he  was  a  slave, 
condemned  by  God  to  groan  under  the  rod  of  God's  rep- 
resentatives ;  that  he  should  remain  ignorant  and  miser- 
able, seeking  only  his  own  selfish  welfare  in  a  world 
beyond  the  grave." 

His  assault  upon  the  government  was  equally  radical ; 
at  that  time  it  was  considered  fanatical.  Even  Voltaire 
dissented  from  Holbach.  In  his  youth  Frederick  the 
Great  had  written  a  book  against  Machiavellianism,  and 
had  afterwards  put  into  practice  to  his  own  advantage 
every  rascality  suggested  by  Machiavelli.  In  his  old  age, 
he  now  published  a  censure  of  Holbach,  whereas  he  had 
not  a  whit  more  religious  belief  than  the  man  he  censured. 
He  considered  Holbach  dangerous,  not  because  he  denied 
God,  but  because  he  questioned  the  divinity  of  kings. 

Holbach  declared  that  a  nation  should  decide  for  itself 
whether  it  was  well  governed  or  not,  and  should  refuse 
obedience  to  a  king  who  did  not  seek  the  welfare  of  his 
people.  He  said  that  kings  were  made  for  the  people 
and  not  the  people  for  kings.  "  Almost  everywhere,"  he 
said,  "  the  sovereign  is  everything  and  the  people  nothing, 
and  yet  it  is  rare  to  find  a  sovereign  who  gives  himself  the 
trouble  to  perform  the  duties  of  his  position." 

Besides  the  philosophers  whose  names  have  been  given, 
there  were  others  who  were  developing  new  ideas  and  con- 
tributing to  the  change  which  was  preparing  the  way  for 
a  new  order. 

Mirabeau,  the  "  Friend  of  Man " ;  Quesnel,  the  father  of 
French  political  economy;  and  Buff  on,  the  great  natural- 
ist, were  original  thinkers,  tireless  expounders,  and  pio- 
neers of  mental  progress. 

Quite  as  dangerous  to  the  old  regime  as  the  philosophers 


xxxix         LAST  YEARS  OF  LOUIS  THE   FIFTEENTH  689 

were  the  plutocrats  of  the  middle  classes.  The  tax- 
farmers,  a  powerful  corporation  of  sixty  members,  were 
immensely  rich;  many  manufacturers  had  grown  wealthy; 
also  many  bankers,  contractors,  stewards  of  estates,  law- 
yers, merchants,  and  speculators.  The  opportunities  for 
stealing  were  so  great  in  the  royal  service,  and  in  that  of 
the  rich  but  improvident  nobles,  that  considerable  fort- 
unes were  made  by  dishonest  servitors. 

The  rich  men  of  the  middle  class  resented  the  exclu- 
siveness  of  the  aristocracy.  The  French  nobles  were 
artists  in  the  practice  of  both  politeness  and  insolence. 
Toward  equals  and  their  superiors  they  were  most  exqui- 
sitely courteous,  and  were  often  kind  to  their  dependents, 
but  toward  their  immediate  inferiors  in  the  social  scale 
they  were  most  insufferably  offensive.  To  the  prosperous 
man  of  business,  who  was  conscious  of  his  own  superiority 
over  the  ignorant  and  incompetent  noble,  this  supercilious 
attitude  of  the  latter  was  galling. 

Talleyrand  said  the  Revolution  sprang  from  French  van- 
ity ;  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  the  wounded 
vanity  of  the  French  plutocrats  had  much  to  do  with  the 
downfall  of  the  French  nobles. 

While  these  elements  of  discord  are  at  work,  Louis  XV. 
pursues  the  aimless  tenor  of  his  life.  How  to  fill  up  the 
day  without  work  is  the  main  question  with  him. 

He  idles,  he  trifles,  he  floats  down  the  current  of  an  in- 
dolent, indifferent,  and  licentious  career. 

One  night,  at  three  o'clock,  the  bishop  of  Orleans  was 
roused  by  a  royal  courier,  who  had  in  hot  haste  brought 
a  despatch  from  his  Majesty  Louis  XV. 

The  bishop  imagined  that  something  terrible  had  hap- 
pened. Tremblingly  he  opened  the  package  and  read  :  — 
2  Y 


690  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

"  Monsieur  the  Bishop  of  Orleans  :  my  daughters  wish 
for  some  preserved  Orleans  quinces.  Pray  send  some.  If 
you  have  none,  I  beg  that  you  will  ..." 

In  this  part  of  the  letter  there  was  a  drawing  of  a  sedan- 
chair,  and  underneath  the  chair  the  king's  letter  continued 
thus : — 

"  Send  immediately  into  your  episcopal  town  and  get 
them  ;  and,  Monsieur  the  Bishop,  may  God  have  you  in 
his  holy  keeping.  Louis." 

Lower  down  on  the  page  was  this  postscript :  — 

"The  sedan-chair  does  not  mean  anything;  it  was 
drawn  by  my  daughter  on  this  sheet  of  paper,  which  I 
happened  to  find  near  me." 

Greatly  relieved,  the  bishop  hurried  a  courier  into 
Orleans,  procured  the  preserves,  and  sent  them  to  his 
royal  master. 

The  king  is  amiable  with  his  daughters,  and  they  seem 
to  love  him  tenderly.  He  calls  them  by  nicknames,  takes 
a  languid  interest  in  their  amusements  and  studies,  and 
once  a  week  he  attends  a  family  concert  where  his  daugh- 
ters perform  and  his  wife  and  himself  listen  to  the  music. 

Beaumarchais  was  their  music  master  ;  and  the  king  on 
one  occasion  gave  up  his  own  armchair  to  the  teacher,  in 
order  that  he  might  more  comfortably  play  the  harp. 

This  Beaumarchais,  being  a  new  man,  was  hated  by  the 
nobles.  They  conspired  against  the  parvenu  and  con- 
cocted a  plan  to  put  a  public  affront  upon  him,  and  as  the 
royal  music  master  had  once  been  a  mere  humble  watch- 
mender,  they  decided  to  take  up  that  line  of  attack.  So 
it  happened  that  the  next  time  Beaumarchais  was  in  a 
crowd  of  courtiers,  waiting  to  enter  the  sacred  royal  cir- 
cle, up  came  a  smirking  peer,  who  pulled  out  his  watch 


MXIX         LAST  YEARS  OF  LOUIS  THE  FIFTEENTH  691 

and  asked  Beaumarchais  if  he  would  examine  it  and  see 
what  ailed  it. 

Beaumarchais  was  nimble-witted  and  courageous.  He 
understood.  So  he  said,  "I  warn  you,  sir,  that  I  have 
grown  very  awkward  and  may  injure  your  watch." 

Nevertheless  the  courtier  insisted,  whereupon  Beau- 
marchais took  the  watch,  pretended  to  inspect  it,  and 
dropped  it  on  the  marble  floor,  smashing  it  badly. 

"  I  warned  you,  sir,  that  I  had  grown  awkward,"  said 
Beaumarchais,  as  he  walked  off,  leaving  the  noble  to  stoop 
and  gather  up  the  remains  of  his  watch. 

With  this  offended  gentleman,  or  some  other,  Beau- 
marchais was  forced  to  fight  a  duel.  He  killed  his  foe 
and  was  in  peril  of  punishment.  The  daughters  of  the 
king,  taking  his  part,  went  to  their  father  and  interceded 
for  their  teacher. 

The  king  listened  favourably,  and  said,  "  Arrange  it  in 
such  a  way,  my  children,  that  I  may  not  hear  of  it." 

As  the  view  herein  taken  of  the  character  and  mental 
capacity  of  Louis  XV.  is  different  from  that  held  by  his- 
torians generally,  the  remaining  pages  are  given  to  several 
well-attested  anecdotes,  which  illustrate  what  manner  of 
man  he  was. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Louis  XIV.  had  bound  him- 
self by  repeated  treaties  with  England  to  recognize  the 
new  royal  house  of  that  country  and  to  cease  to  harbour 
the  Stuart  pretenders.  The  Regent  Orleans  had  renewed 
these  obligations  in  favour  of  the  Hanoverian  succession 
and  had  expelled  the  Stuarts  from  France. 

Now  in  1715  this  unfortunate  Stuart  family,  who 
richly  deserved  all  their  misfortunes,  had  used  France  as 
a  basis  for  another  invasion  of  England  ;  and  in  1745  they 


692  THE   STORY   OF   FRANCE  CHAP. 

did  so  again.  The  English  government  naturally  felt 
that  France  must  either  be  treated  as  an  enemy  or  must 
put  a  stop  to  these  expeditions  which  were  fomented  and 
organized  on  French  soil.  Twice  had  the  Stuart  Pre- 
tender gathered  up  a  handful  of  followers,  crossed  the 
Channel  into  Scotland,  raised  the  standard  of  civil  war, 
striven  fitfully  for  his  lost  crown,  been  overtaken  by 
disastrous  failure,  and  had  fled  to  cover  in  France, 
leaving  his  devoted  adherents  in  Scotland  to  bear  the 
pitiless  weight  of  English  wrath. 

While  "  Bonnie  Prince  Charlie  "  was  playing  the  part 
of  the  romantic  hero  in  the  salons  of  Paris,  petted  and 
caressed  by  fine  ladies,  and  passing  his  time  in  one  con- 
tinuous round  of  fashionable  dissipation,  the  brave  High- 
landers who  had  left  humble  homes  to  fight  for  him  were 
being  bunched  like  cattle  at  bloody  assizes,  and  butchered 
like  cattle  to  sate  the  vengeance  of  King  George  of  Eng- 
land. "  Bonnie  Prince  Charlie  "  danced  and  drank  and 
revelled  in  France,  but  in  Scotland  the  rotting  heads  of 
those  who  had  rallied  to  his  call  were  stuck  on  pikes  at 
the  ends  of  many  a  bridge,  at  the  gates  of  many  a  town. 

England  demanded,  and  Louis  XV.  promised,  that 
France  should  no  longer  harbour  this  feather-headed 
adventurer,  this  disturber  of  the  peace  of  two  great 
nations. 

But  the  Stuarts  were  not  without  influential  friends 
at  the  court  of  France.  They  were  Catholics,  and 
France  was  Catholic.  King  George  was  a  Protestant,  and 
England  was  Protestant.  Hence  the  Stuart  cause  was 
popular  in  France.  Many  secret  influences  were  at  work 
for  it.  Madame  de  Pompadour  herself  was  gained  over, 
and  she  was  believed  to  be  all  powerful.  It  was  thought 


xxxix         LAST  YEARS   OF  LOUIS  THE   FIFTEENTH  693 

she  could  prevail  on  the  king  to  let  "  Bonnie  Prince 
Charlie  "  remain  in  Paris,  in  violation  of  the  treaty.  She 
urged  it  on  the  king  persistently,  so  much  so  that  at 
length  he  replied  angrily :  "  What  would  you  have  me 
do,  madame?  Must  I  ruin  my  kingdom  because  the  son 
of  the  Chevalier  de  St.  George  likes  to  live  in  Paris  ?  " 

Resisting  all  the  public  clamour  in  the  Stuart  cause, 
clamour  which  was  loud  in  the  theatres,  in  the  streets, 
and  in  the  palace  itself,  Louis  had  the  Pretender  arrested 
and  sent  away. 

The  more  this  incident  is  studied,  the  deeper  will  be 
the  conviction  that  the  king  was  not  a  mere  trifler, 
coffee  maker,  tapestry  weaver,  or  debauchee.  He  was  all 
these,  but  he  was  also  in  many  ways  a  king. 

Here  is  another  anecdote,  equally  well  attested :  — 

The  Marquis  de  Marigny  laid  before  him  a  design  for 
the  enlargement,  embellishment,  and  draining  of  the  city 
of  Paris.  The  cost  would  be  30,000,000  livres. 

"  And  where,  M.  de  Marigny,"  said  the  king,  "  do  you 
imagine  I  should  find  the  money  to  carry  out  your 
admirable  plans?" 

"Ah,  Sire,"  Marigny  replied,  "such  a  thought  would 
never  have  occurred  to  your  great  ancestor,  Louis  XIV." 

"  I  wish  it  had  sometimes  done  so,"  said  the  king ;  "  it 
would  then  have  occurred  less  frequently  to  me." 

Consider  this  also  :  — 

Louis  XV.  clearly  saw  the  progress  of  the  democratic 
spirit,  and  realized  its  danger  to  the  crown.  In  his 
letters  he  deplores  the  fact  that  he  will  be  succeeded 
by  a  child,  "and  what  can  a  child  do  against  all  the 
Republicans  with  whom  I  have  to  contend  ? " 

While  the  struggle  with  the  Parliament  was  going  on, 


694  THE  STOKY  OF  FRANCE  CHAP. 

a  courtier  of  high  position  said  to  the  king  one  evening, 
as  he  was  being  put  to  bed,  "You  will  see,  Sire,  that 
this  will  lead  to  the  convoking  of  the  States  General." 

The  king  threw  off  his  apathy  in  a  moment,  and  seized 
the  courtier  by  the  arm,  saying,  "Never  repeat  those 
words.  I  am  not  bloodthirsty,  but  if  I  had  a  brother 
who  gave  me  that  advice,  I  would  sacrifice  him  to  the 
duration  of  the  monarchy  and  the  peace  of  the  nation 
within  twenty-four  hours." 

From  the  king's  standpoint,  was  not  this  the  deepest 
wisdom  ?  Did  not  Louis  XVI.  abandon  the  reins  to  the 
tribune  of  the  people  when  he  called  the  States  General 
together  ? 

"  When  I  am  gone,"  the  old  king  remarked  with  a  deli- 
cate sneer,  "  I  should  like  very  much  to  know  how  Berry 
will  pull  through  with  it." 

The  Berry  here  alluded  to  was  the  heir-apparent  to  the 
throne,  afterwards  Louis  XVI.,  and  the  "it"  was  the 
embarrassment  of  the  royal  position.  Madame  de  Pom- 
padour used  to  say,  "After  us  the  Deluge." 

There  is  something  appalling  in  the  levity,  the  uncon- 
scious gayety,  with  which  the  French  nobles  rushed  to 
their  doom.  Warning  voices  had  been  raised,  but  not 
heeded. 

Damiens  had  tried,  in  his  crazy  way,  to  bring  the  king 
to  sober  thought  by  sticking  a  penknife  into  his  side. 
"  Sire,"  wrote  Damiens  to  the  slightly  wounded  but  badly 
frightened  monarch,  "  I  am  sorry  I  gained  access  to  you ; 
but  if  you  do  not  take  the  part  of  your  people,  you  and 
the  Dauphin  and  many  others  will  perish  before  many 
years." 

Damiens  was  butchered,  legally  and  promptly  ;    they 


xxxix         LAST  YEARS  OF  LOUIS  THE  FIFTEENTH  695 

burnt  him  with  red-hot  irons,  tried  to  pull  him  apart 
with  horses,  chopped  him  with  knives  and  axes,  tortured 
him  all  day  long,  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  Church 
and  the  State,  of  the  lords  and  the  ladies,  who  turned  out 
in  brave  attire  to  enjoy  the  spectacle,  and  when  the  poor 
wretch  at  last  was  dead  the  nobles  dispersed,  and  never 
a  soul  thought  twice  that  his  prophecy  might  come  true. 

Voltaire  had  predicted  a  revolution ;  Lord  Chesterfield 
had  done  so  ;  the  king  himself  had  done  so  ;  it  was  in  the 
air,  and  yet  the  privileged  classes  laughed  and  chattered 
and  made  love,  intrigued  and  feasted  and  made  merry, 
put  every  thought  on  the  cut  of  a  coat,  the  set  of  a  wig, 
the  phrasing  of  a  jest,  the  concoction  of  a  sauce,  the 
choice  of  a  perfume,  and  the  seduction  of  women,  who, 
in  most  cases,  were  willing  to  meet  them  half-way. 

Like  a  bevy  of  bacchanals,  maddened  with  wine  and 
garlanded  with  flowers,  the  old  French  noblesse  reeled  to 
its  doom,  riotously  gay  to  the  last.  It  was  as  though  a 
carnival,  rollicking  through  sunny  avenues,  had  met  the 
Pale  Horse  and  its  rider  at  the  turn  of  the  street,  and 
the  shouts  of  revelry  had  changed  to  shrieks  of  fear  and 
pain  —  as  light,  life,  and  joy  were  stricken  down  by 
swift,  appalling  Death. 


INDEX 


Abelard,  166,  167. 

Absolution,  582,  589. 

Abuses,  686. 

Academy,  the  French,  502. 

Addison,  584. 

Adolphus,  Gustavus,  501. 

jEgidius,  35,  68,  69,  74,  75. 

Aetius,  25,  35. 

Africa,  617. 

Ages,  the  Dark,  49,  118,  119,  187,  188. 

Agincourt,  battle  of,  229,  2:34. 

Agnadello,  battle  of,  323,  337. 

Agnes  and  Clotaire's  queen,  87,  88,  89. 

Agnes  of  Meranie,  171. 

Agnes  Sorel,  263. 

Agriculture,  11,  12,  18,  316. 

Aigues-Mortes,  637. 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  107. 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  peace  of,  517,  649. 

Alans,  26. 

Alaric,  26,  632. 

Albert  of  Metz,  373,  374. 

Albigensians,  169,  193,  369. 

Albigensian  Crusade,  169,  172. 

Albret,  Sieur  de,  303. 

Albret,  Jeanne,  417,  446,  447,  493. 

Alchemy,  188. 

Alencon,  Duke  of,  281,  339,  434,  435. 

Alexander  the  Great,  3. 

Alexander  VI.  (Pope),  309,  310,  311, 

316,  317,  318,  319,  371,  372,  373. 
Alexander  VII.,  515. 
Algerines,  526. 
Alhambra,  152. 
Alliance,   European,  against  France, 

521. 

Alps,  3,  4,  6. 
Alsace.  506,  530,  646. 
Alva,  Duke  of,  387,  391,  416,  420. 
Ambassadors,  76,  512,  529,  588. 
Amboise,  312,  402. 
Amboise,  conspiracy  of,  406. 


Amusements,  480. 

Anastasius,  42. 

Ancien  Ke'gime,  569,  574,  578. 

Androweda,  57,  58,  65,  71. 

Ange'ly,  St.  Jean  de,  278. 

Anjou,  Duke  of,  222,  223,  273,  424,  438, 

590,  595. 
An  nates,  329. 
Anne  of  Austria,  504,  505. 
Anne  of  Brittany,  303,  304,  305,  306, 

307,  312,  316,  321. 
Anne  of  France,  290,  291,  292,  293,  300, 

301,  303,  304,  305,  306,  307,  337,  338, 

340,  406. 
Annuities,  627. 
Antin,  Duke  of,  62. 
Antioch,  147,  179. 
Autoine,  St.,  battle  of,  510. 
Antoninus  Pius,  Emperor,  21. 
Aquitaine,  76. 
Arabs,  151,  152,  153. 
Arbogast,  25. 
Aregonda,  52. 
Argenson,  Count  of,  653. 
Arians,  40,41,  47. 
Aristocracy,  94,  191,  630. 
Aristotle,  402. 
Armada,  the  Great,  456. 
Armagnac,  Count  of,  229,  277,  281. 
Armagnacs,  229,  230. 
Army,  standing,  2fi4,  524. 
Arnold,  Emperor,  111. 
Arras,  peace  of,  229,  257. 
Artillery,  203. 

Artois,  Robert  of,  190,  197,  198,  199. 
Artois,  province  o-f,  282,  550. 
Asia,  1,  2,  10,  147,  617. 
Assemblies.  National,  96,  99,  100,  108. 
Asses,  Festival  of,  480. 
Astrology.  188,221. 
Asylum,  right  of,  529. 
Attila,  24,  27. 


G07 


698 


INDEX 


Augurs,  Roman,  315. 

Augustus,  Emperor,  19,  20,  21. 

Augustus  II.  of  Poland,  044,  655,  656. 

Augustus  III.  of  Poland,  G57. 

Aumale,  364. 

Aumale,  battle  of,  459. 

Auray,  battle  of,  215. 

Austrasians,  77. 

Austrehilda,  72,  73. 

Austria,  501,  506,  510,  535,  552,  639, 

644. 

Auxerre,  67. 
Avars,  79,  98. 
Avignon,  172,  215,  514. 

Bajazet,  227. 

Balafre',  the,  443. 

Balen,  Count,  277. 

Balsam,  holy,  463. 

Bankers,  176. 

Bank  notes,  618. 

Banks,  611,  614,  615,  625,  626. 

Bankruptcy,  408,  588. 

Bar,  province  of,  644,  658. 

Barbarians,  25, 125. 

Barbarossa,  149. 

Barcelona,  553. 

Bards,  7,  8. 

Barricades,  441. 

Bart,  Jean,  538,  540,  541,  542,  543,  544, 

545. 
Bartholomew,  St.,  418,  420,  421,  422, 

423,  424,  425,  427,  470. 
Basin,  Thomas,  267. 
Basques,  the,  1,  79,  106. 
Bastille,  221,  281,  490,  605,  606,  607, 

676. 

Bavaria,  Elector  of,  549. 
Bavarians,  79. 
Bayard,  Chevalier,  162,  311,  320,  323, 

328,  342. 
Be'arn,  493. 
Beaumarchais,  696. 
Beauvais,  bishop  of,  249,  250. 
Beauvau,  Prince  of,  637,  679. 
Becket,  Thomas,  168. 
Bellay,  357. 

Belle-Isle,  Marshal,  646. 
Bergen-op-Zoom,  648. 
Bernard,  106. 
Bernard,  St.,  167, 178. 
Bernis,  Cardinal,  675. 
Berquin,  355,  356. 


Berry,  Duke  of,  223,  694 ;  Duchess  of, 

634,  635. 

Bertha,  114,  115,  116. 
Bertrade,  118. 
Berwick,  Duke  of,  632,  644. 
Besme,  422. 

Beze,  Theodore  de,  411. 
Beziers,  170. 
Biron,  439,  459. 

Bishops,  the,  40,  41,  46,  48,  72,  95,  174. 
Blanche  of  Castile,  172,  173. 
Black  death,  204. 
Black  Prince,  216,  217,  219. 
Black  Sea,  26. 
Blenheim,  battle  of,  549. 
Blois,  437,  441,  443. 
Blois,  treaty  of,  320. 
Boetie,  397. 
Bohemia,  79,  646,  648. 
Bombards,  203. 
Bonaparte,  Napoleon,  605,   611,  629, 

659. 

Bonaparte,  Charles,  609. 
Boniface,  Pope,  97. 
Boniface  VIII.,  177, 178. 
Bonnivet,  342. 
Books,  486. 

Bordeaux,  76,  396,  397. 
Bordeaux,  parliament  of,  272. 
Borgia,  Caesar,  310,  317,  318,  371. 
Boson,  Gonthram,  60,  07,  09,  74. 
Bosphorus,  3. 
Boufflers,    Marshal,    587,    591,    592; 

Chevalier  de,  637. 
Bouillon,  Cardinal,  675. 
Boulogne,  360. 
Bourbon,  Antoine,  403,  407. 
Bourbon,  Cardinal,  438. 
Bourbon,  Duke  of,  273,  295,  296,  450, 

613,  620,  623,  630,  636. 
Bourbon,  Gilbert,  311. 
Bourbon,  house  of,  340,  644. 
Bourbon,  minister  of  Louis  XV.,  638, 

639. 
Bourbon,  the  Constable,  328,  336,  337, 

338,  339,  340,  341,  342,  343,  345,  346, 

347,  348,  349,  350. 

Bourgeoisie,  630.     See  also  the  Com- 
mons. 

Bourges,  archbishop  of,  461. 
Bourse,  the,  639. 
Bouteville,  495. 
Bouvines,  battle  of,  171. 


INDEX 


699 


Boyne,  battle  of  the,  531,  532. 

Brabant,  custom  of,  516. 

Brahman,  38. 

Braine,  53,  54. 

Brandenberg,  Margrave  of,  333,  334. 

Brest,  500. 

Bretigny,  treaty  of,  212. 

Breton  Heresy,  47. 

Breton  War,  220. 

Briare,  469. 

Bricot,  321. 

Bridges,  feudal  tolls,  572. 

Briquemont,  434. 

Brissac,  464,  4C7. 

Brittany,  17,  225,  282,  300,  306,  322. 

Brittany,  Duke  of,  272,  273,  274,  275, 

277,  278,  279,  301. 
Brunehilda,  48,  55,  56,  59,  60,  61,  62, 

63,  64,  65,  67, 68, 69,  73, 75,  76,  77,  78, 

91. 

Brunswick,  Ferdinand  of,  653. 
Buda,  27. 
Buffon,  688. 
Bulgarians,  79, 147. 
Bureau,  Jean,  263. 
Burgundy,  73,  77. 
Burgundy,  Duke  of,  223,  226,  227,  228, 

232,  240,  257,  272,  273,  274,  275,  277, 

282. 

Burgundy,  Duchess  of,  600,  601. 
Burgundy,  Duke  Philip,  552, 553. 
Burgundian  party,  230. 
Burgundians,  26. 
Burton,  584. 
Byron,  681. 

Cabinets,  king's,  499. 

Caesar,  Julius,  14,  15, 16,  18,  19,  22,  93, 

315. 

Calais,  203,  229,  399. 
Calais,  St.,  65. 

Calvin,  John,  381,  382,  383,  411. 
Cambray,  league  of,  323. 
Cambray,  treaty  of,  351. 
Camillas,  4. 
Canada,  633,  649. 
Cannae,  4. 
Cape  Breton,  648. 
Capet,  Hugh,  112,  114. 
Capponi,  Pietro,  309. 
Captainries,  573. 
Cards,  playing,  233. 
Carlyle,  Thomas,  603. 


Caroline,  Fort,  429. 

Carthage,  26. 

Casale,  fortress  of,  526,  535. 

Castile,  215,  216. 

Castillo,  391. 

Castle,  feudal  life  in,  character  of, 

101,  128, 130,  132,  133,  134,  135,  137, 

138,  139,  140,  141, 168,  169. 
Catherine  de'  Medici,  354,  364, 403,  405, 

412,  413,  414,  415,  416,  417,  418,  419, 

420,  428,  432,  433,  435,  440,  441,  443. 
Catherine  of  Russia,  663. 
Catholics,  40,  41,  42,  193,  344,  357,  358, 

384,  399,  403,  405,  409,  411,  428,  434, 

438,  439,  445,  447,  449,  450,  461,  466, 

467,  473,  493,  494,  511,  528,  529,  555, 

581,637,660. 
Catiline,  14. 
Cellini,  Benvenuto,  350. 
Celt,  1,  2, 11. 
Ceremonial,  court,  581. 
Chalons,  battle  of,  27,  35. 
Chambers,  encyclopaedia  of,  685. 
Chambord,  palace,  656. 
Cham  plain,  469. 
Chandos,  John,  215,  217,  219. 
Chapelle,  Count,  4&5. 
Charlemagne,  98,  99, 100,  101,  102, 103, 

104,  105, 106,  119,  120,  145,  162,  285. 
Charles,  Duke  of  Guienne,  277,  278. 
Charles  Martel,  96,  145. 
Charles  the  Bad,  206,  208,  209,  212. 
Charles  the  Bald,  110,  111. 
Charles  the  Fair,  186. 
Charles  the  Simple,  112. 
Charles  the  Pious,  106, 107, 109. 
Charles  the  Rash,  272,  273,  274,  275, 

276,  277,  278,  279,  280,  281,  288. 
Charles  II.  of  England,  470,  513,  515, 

518,  519,  520,  573,  575,  578,  579,  612. 
Charles  II.  of  Spain,  516,  546,  547,  549. 
Charles  V.,  209,  212,  217,  218,  219,  220, 

221. 
Charles  V.  of  Germany,  280,  395,  333, 

335,  336,  340,  341,  343,  344,  345,  346, 

347,  350,  351,  352,  358,  359,  360,  363, 

380,  386,  387,  397,  398,  463,  464,  567. 
Charles  VI.,  222,  224,  225,  226,  230,  231, 

232,  233,  234,  236. 
Charles  VI.  of  Germany,  644. 
Charles  VII.,  230, 237, 239,  240, 241, 242, 

245,  248,  257,  258,  260,  263,  267,  268, 

269,  270,  582. 


700 


INDEX 


Charles  VIII.,  282,  290,  291,  202,  293, 

298,  299,  303,  304,  305,  306,  307,  308, 

309,  310,  311,  312. 

Charles  IX.,  409,  418,  419,  433,  434. 
Charles  XII.  of  Sweden,  632,  655. 
"Charlie,  Bonnie  Prince,"  692. 
Charters,  166. 
Chartres,  463. 
Chaumout,  the  Widow,  620,  622,  627, 

630. 

Chesterfield,  Lord,  695. 
Chiefs,  2,  4,  9, 19,  56,  93,  128,  129,  135, 

136,  139. 

Chigi,  Cardinal,  515. 
Childebert  I.,  50,  51,  53,  64,  73. 
Childebert  II.,  75,  76,  77. 
Childebert  III.,  80. 
Childeric,  35. 
Childeric  III.,  96. 
Chilperic,  54,  57,  58,  59,  60,  61,  62,  63, 

64,  65,  66,  67,  69,  70,  71,  72,  73,  91. 
Chimneys,  137. 
China,  25. 
Chios,  267. 
Chivalry,  154,  155,  156,  157,  158,  159, 

160,  161,  162,  163,  164. 
Choiseul,  Duke  of,  642,  653,  659,  663. 
Chotusitz,  646. 
Christ,  38. 
Christians,  22,  38,  39,  46,  121,  145, 150, 

153,  359,  36(i,  367,  368. 
Chronicle  of  Turpin,  119. 
Church,  the,  37,  42,  44,  45,  46,  47,  48, 

49, 80, 102,  119, 130, 151,  158, 161, 180, 

187, 194,  272,  363,  369,  370,  371,  393, 

586,  602,  637. 
Citeaux,  abbot  of,  170. 
Cities,  12. 
Civilization,  Arabian,  151,  152,  153; 

Eastern,  151. 

Claude,  Princess,  321,  327. 
Claudius,  21. 

Clement,  Jacques,  431,  444. 
Clement  V.,  178,  179,  180. 
Clement  VI.,  203. 
Clement  VIII.,  465,  466,  531, 532. 
Clement  XI.,  660. 
Clergy,  the,  47,  112,  121,  297,  298,  299, 

330,  343,  344,  488,  674. 
Clermont,  Count  of,  240;    Council  of, 

143,  144,  145,  146. 
Clisson,  Oliver,  201,  221,  225,  226. 
Clive,  Lord,  652. 


Clodion,  35. 

Clodomir,  50,  52. 

Clotaire  I.,  50,  51,  52,  53,  73,  82,  85, 86, 

90,  91,  138. 

Clotaire  II.,  71,  73,  77,  78,  79. 
Clotilda,  45,  46,  50. 
Clovis  I.,  34,  36,  37,  41,  42,  44,  45,  47, 

49,  51,  61,  93,  94. 
Cocherel,  battle  of,  215. 
Code,  Maritime,  542. 
Coinage,  586,  610,  636. 
Colbert,  542,  544,  575,  589. 
Coligny,  398,  403,  406,  417,  418,  419, 

420,  421,  422,  425,  426,  429,  447. 
Cologne,  483,  509,  531,  532,  533. 
Cologne,  archbishop  of,  333. 
Colonies,  649,  650,  652,  653. 
Colonna,  178. 
Columbus,  611. 
Comines,  284,  301,  312. 
Commerce,  11,  12,  131,  150,  166,  316, 

475,  617. 
Committee  of  Sixteen,  the,  432,  452, 

459. 

Commonweal,  League  of,  272. 
Commons,  the,  191,  192,  264,  297,  298, 

299,  489. 

Communism,  95. 
Companies,  Free,  215,  218,  219. 
Compiegne,  246,  247. 
Concini,  472,  473,  491. 
Concordat,  328, 330. 
Conde',  Prince,  403,  406,  407,  416,  417, 

436,  439,  447,  471,  472,  488,  490,  674. 
Conde',  the  Great,  341,  505,  508,  509, 

510,  512,  517,  521,  594,  598. 
Conflans,  treaty  of,  273. 
Conrad,  149. 

Constance,  Queen,  116,  117. 
Constance,  council  of,  233. 
Constantiue  the  Great,  46. 
Constantinople,  24,  74,  75,  147. 
Conti,  Prince,  439,  620,  623. 
Corneto,  Cardinal,  317. 
Corporations,  192. 
Corsairs,  538. 
Corsica,  655,  659. 
Corsicau  Guard,  513,  515. 
Cottiu,  Father,  487. 
Councils,  royal,  499. 
Court,  the,  330,  332,  333. 
Courtiers,  591,  592,  633. 
Courtray,  battle  of,  225. 


INDEX 


701 


Coutances,  battle  of,  299,  300. 

Craon,  Peter,  225. 

Creey,  battle  of,  202,  203,  234. 

Crillon,  442. 

Crimes,  money  indemnity,  32. 

Crossus,  629. 

Cromwell,  515. 

Crusaders,  146,  147,  148,  149. 

Crusades,  142,  147,  148,  149,  150, 153, 

173,  175. 

Culloden,  battle  of,  647. 
Cumberland,  Duke  of,  651. 
Cure's,  577,  674. 
Currency  contraction,  624. 
Custom-houses,  182. 
Custom  of  Brabant,  516. 

Dagobert,  79,  80. 

Damiens,  647,  694. 

Danes,  103. 

Dantzic,  657,  658. 

Danube,  26,  27. 

Dark  Ages,  49,  118,  187,  188. 

D'Aubigne',  448,  457,  556. 

D'Aumont,  451. 

Daun,  652. 

Dauphin,  the,  554. 

Dauphiny,  559. 

Debt,  public,  408,  411,  511,  561,  583, 

648,  653. 

Deffand,  Madame  de,  687. 
D'Estre'es,  Gabrielle,  439,  462. 
D'Estre'es,  537. 
D'Eu,  206. 
Deficit,  561,  672. 
Democracy,  191. 
Demonetization,  624,  625. 
Denain,  battle  of,  533. 
Dependencies,  524. 
De  Ruyter,  542,  543. 
De  Se'gur,  448. 
Desmorets,  599. 
Dettingen,  647. 
De  Witt,  John,  519,  520,  521. 
Diana  of  Poitiers,  364,  394. 
Diderot,  6S5,  686. 
Dieppe,  457. 
Dijon,  325. 

Distress,  national,  588. 
Dividends,  621,  622. 
Divine  right,  563. 
Doctors,  664. 
Doge  of  Genoa,  527. 


Domremy,  235. 

Donjon  keep,  136. 

Dormans,  435. 

Dragonades,  530. 

Dress,  485. 

Druids,  <>,  7,  10, 13. 

Du  Barry,  Madame,  558,  603,  675,  679. 

Du  Bois,  Cardinal,  608,  609,  631,  632, 

635,  636. 
Du  Bourg,  405. 
Duelling,  495. 
Du  Guesclin,  162,  213,  214,  215,  216, 

217,  218,  219,  220,  221. 
Dunes,  battle  of,  509. 
Dunkirk,  505,  551,  631,  649. 
Duperron,  466. 
Dupleix,  648,  649. 
Duprat,  337, 338,  339, 345,  352,  353,  363, 

582. 

Duquesne,  537. 
Duras,  Duchess  de,  596. 
Dutch,  517,  542,  543,  544,  549,  551. 
Dutch  Republic,  391,  518,  519, 520, 522, 

523. 

Duvernay,  636,  639. 
Dwellings,  484;  peasant,  131. 
Dykes,  cutting  of,  520. 

East  India  Company,  615,  617,  619. 

Eclipse,  122. 

Edict  of  Regency,  623,  624,  625,  626, 

627. 

"Edict  of  1550, "388,  389. 
Edinburgh,  621. 
Education,  119,  155. 
Edward  III.,  198, 199,  200,  201, 202, 203, 

212,  218,  219,  234,  262. 
Edward  IV.,  275,  277,  279,  282,  303. 
Egyptians,  10. 

Eleanor  of  Aquitaine,  167, 168. 
Eleanor  of  Castile,  345,  351. 
Election  of  kings,  94. 
Eligius,  121. 
Elixir  of  life,  481. 

Elizabeth  of  England,  434,  451,  456. 
Elizabeth  of  Russia,  652. 
Emancipation  of  serfs,  186,  187. 
Embassy,  Persian,  567. 
Emperor,  102. 
Encyclopaedia,  the,  685. 
Encyclopedists,  the,  686. 
England,  11,  12,  47,  526,  531,  551,  617. 

619,  62'.),  632,  644,  647. 


702 


INDEX 


English,  47,  325,  342,  451. 

Epernon,  Duke  of,  450. 

Equality,  630. 

Erasmus,  377,  378,  401. 

Erp,  67. 

Etiquette,  567,  581,  595,  596,  597. 

Eudes,  111. 

Eudoxia,  26. 

Eugene,  Prince,  534,  549,  551. 

Eugenius,  25. 

European  alliance,  521. 

European  countries,  125. 

Europe,  princes  of,  548. 

Euxenes,  5,  6. 

Evard,  251. 

Excommunication,  54, 115, 116. 

Extravagance  at  court,  589,  604. 

Family  Compact,  653. 

Famine,  21,  262,  559,  583. 

Fargues,  598,  599. 

Farmers,  tax,  469,  506,  672. 

Fauvel,  389. 

Fayette,  La,  Madame,  263. 

Fenacute,  120. 

Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  307,  311,  312, 

319,  320,  322,  325,  326. 
Festival  of  Asses,  480. 
Festival  of  Fools,  480. 
Fetich  worship,  516. 
Feudal  lords,  278,  286,  296. 
Feudal  reaction,  487. 
Feudal  ruins,  497,  498. 
Feudal  system,  101,  111,  125, 126,  127, 

128,  130,  132,  185,  190,  191,  192,  286, 

287. 

Field  of  Lies,  107. 
Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold,  335. 
Finances,  501,  672. 
Firearms,  485. 
Flagellants,  the,  204. 
Flanders,  522,  549,  550. 
Flanders,  Count  of,  223. 
Flemings,  282,  283,  342,  438. 
Fleury,  Cardinal,  642,  643,  644,  646, 

653,  659. 
Florence,  309. 

Florida,  426,  427,  428,  429,  654. 
Fontaire-Fran9aise,  465. 
Fontenoy,  306. 
Fontenoy,  battle  of,  109. 
Fornova,  battle  of,  311. 
Fortunatus,  88,  89. 


Foscari,  Doge,  268. 

Franche-Comte,  517,  522. 

Franchise,  Roman,  19. 

Francis,  Duke,  303. 

Francis  I.,  321,  327,  328,  329,  330,  331, 
332,  333,  334,  335,  336,  338,  339,  340, 
341,  343,  345,  346,  347,  348,  350,  351, 
352,  353,  354,  355,  356,  357,  358,  359, 
360,  361,  362,  363,  364,  384,  394,  395, 
401,  582,  668,  677. 

Francis  II.,  300,  402,  403,  406,  407,  411. 

Frankish  laws  and  customs,  32. 

Franks,  30,  31,  35,  45,  47,  56,  81,  82, 
88,  92,  99. 

Fredegonda,  48,  57,  58,  60,  63,  65,  66, 
67,  69,  71,  73,  77,  90,  91. 

Frederick  Barbarossa,  149. 

Frederick  HI.  (Naples),  318,  319,  320. 

Frederick  of  Saxony,  324,  335,  336, 
379,  380. 

Frederick  the  Great,  558,  559,  645, 646, 
647,  648,  650,  651,  652,  654,  663,  688. 

Free  Companies,  212, 213,  215, 218, 219. 

Freedom  of  thought,  401. 

Freemasonry,  639. 

French  Academy,  502. 

French  Revolution,  601. 

Frisians,  79. 

Fronde,  the,  508,  509,  510,  598. 

Fulk  the  Morose,  118. 

Fulton,  Robert,  611. 

Fiirstenburg,  531,  532,  636. 

Gabelle,  206. 

Gabrielle  d'Estre'es,  439,  462,  487. 

Gailen,  66,  68,  69,  70. 

Galeswintha,  58,  59,  60,  63,  64. 

Galigai,  472,  491. 

Gama,  Vasco  da,  478. 

Gambling,  612. 

Game  laws,  330,  331,  573. 

Garigliano,  320. 

Gascons,  217,  220,  229. 

Gaul,  11,  12,  17,  21,  35,  36,  81,  95. 

Gauls,  1,  2,  4,  5,  6,  9,  10,  11,  15,  18,  19, 

20,  22,  30,  45,  82,  88,  92. 
Geneva,  381,  382. 
Genoa,  322,  324,  329,  526,  527,  659. 
Genseric,  26. 

George  III.  England,  692. 
George  of  Freundsburg,  348. 
Germain,  Bishop,  54,  62,  87. 
German  Diet,  525. 


INDEX 


703 


German  Empire,  506. 
German  War  (1770),  629. 
Germans,  55,  95,  342,  417. 
Germany,  1,  30,   110,  378,  379,    526, 

531. 

Gibraltar,  551. 
Gift,  morning,  57,  60,  61,  64. 
Givry,  de,  449. 
Godfather,  58. 

Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  148, 162. 
Gold  and  silver,  623. 
Gonsalvo  de  Cordova,  311,  319,  320. 
Gouthram,  54,  55,  60,  61,  71,  72,  73,  74, 

75,  76. 

Gonthram  Boson,  66,  67,  69,  74,  75. 
Goths,  10,  23,  26,  43,  55,  58,  59, 158. 
Gourgues,  428,  429. 
Government  notes,  628. 
Granson,  280. 
Graveline,  335. 
Great  Britain,  552,  618,  619. 
Greece,  3, 11. 
Greek  merchants,  129. 
Greeks,  5,  6, 10. 
Gregory,  66. 
Gregory  V.,  115. 
Guienne,  301,  394,  395. 
Guilds,  168,  193,  476,  477,  478. 
Guinegate,  battle  of,  282. 
Guise,  Duke  of,  399,  414,  415,  416,  421, 

422,  423,  424,  431,  432,  433,  435,  436, 

437,  438,  439,  440,  441,  442,  443,  450, 

459. 
Guises,  the,  394,  402,  405,  406, 407,  408, 

409,  410,  411,  418,  420,  448. 
Gundobald,  64,  73,  74,  75,  76. 
Gunpowder,  203,  486. 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  501. 

Hadrian,  Emperor,  102. 
Hannibal,  4. 

Hanoverian  Succession,  692. 
Harfleur,  229. 
Haribert,  King,  54,  55,  73. 
Haroun-al-Raschid,  103. 
Heathen  rites,  562. 
Hedge  schools,  400. 
Helo'ise,  167. 
Helvetius,  686,  687. 
Henry  I.,  117. 

Henry  II.  of  England,  1(58,  171. 
Henry  of  Trastamare,  216,  217,  218, 
220. 


Henry  II.  of  France,  354,  364,  394,  395, 

396,  397,  398,  400,  408. 
Henry  III.,  387,  430,  431,  432,  433,  434, 

437,  438,  440,  441,  442,  443,  444,  445, 
447,  448,  449. 

Henry  of  Navarre,  the  IV.  of  France, 
417,  418,  432,  433,  434,  435,  436,  437, 

438,  439,  440,  444,  445,  446,  447,  448, 
449,  450,  451,  452,  457,  458,  459,  4(>0, 
461,  462,  463,  464,  465,  460,  467,  468, 
469,  470,  471,  472,  473,  474,  492,  493, 
582,  677. 

Henry  IV.  of  Germany,  364,  378,  415. 
Henry  V.  of  England,  229,  230,  232, 

233,  234,  239. 

Henry  VII.  of  England,  301,  307,  311. 
Henry  VIII.  of  England,  325,  333,  334, 

335,  336,  337,  340,  344,  353,  359,  360, 

401. 

Herbert  of  Vermandois,  112. 
Heretics,  170,  399. 
Hesdin,  339. 

Highlanders,  Scotch,  2,  7. 
Hilperic.    See  Chilperic. 
Hire,  La,  234,  235. 
Hochkirk,  battle  of,  652. 
Holbach.  687,  688. 
Holland,  386,  517,  519,  520,  521,  522, 

523,  635,  644,  648. 
Holy  League,  347. 
Honorius,  Emperor,  23,  25. 
Hopital,  L',  406,  407,  412,  417. 
Hotels,  Middle  Ages,  484. 
Houppeville,  249. 
Houses,  private,  Middle    Ages,   484; 

custom,  182. 

Hudson  Bay  Country,  551. 
Hugh  Capet,  112. 
Huguenots,  403,  404,  405,  409,  410,  412, 

413,  414,  418,  419,  432,  433,  434,  435, 

436,  437,  438,  439,  447,  450,  452,  456, 

461,  466,  467,  469. 

Hundred  Years'  War,  196,  224,  262. 
Hungarians,  147,  646. 
Huns,  the,  10,  24,  26,  98. 
Hunting,  53. 

Huss,  John,  233,  369,  377,  380. 
Hutten,  Ulrich  von,  377,  402. 
Hypatia,  366. 

Impostures,    religious,   480,  481,  482, 

483. 
India,  47,  633,  649,  666. 


704 


INDEX 


Indians,  429. 

Indies,  Company  of,  621,  622,  623,  624, 

626,  627. 
Indulgences,  371, 374,  375,  376, 377, 379, 

480. 

Infantry,  203,  485. 
Inflation  of  currency,  622. 
Inf reville,  Sieur  de,  542. 
Ingeborg,  171. 
Ingonda, 52. 
Inquisition,  the,  195,  393,  403,  404, 405, 

40ti. 

Intellectual  movement,  675,  679. 
Intendants,  royal,  498,  5G9. 
Irene,  Empress,  102. 
Isabelle  of  Bavaria,  224,  226,  227,  228, 

230,  232,  236,  239,  257. 
Italian  bankers,  176. 
Italy,  3,  74, 110,  308,  309,  324,  342,  358, 

404,  607. 
Ivry,  battle  of,  458. 

Jacobins,  English,  692. 

James  II.  of  England,  532,  548,  589. 

James  V.  of  Scotland,  353. 

Jansen,  Bishop,  660. 

Jansenists,  600. 

Jarnac,  battle  of,  417. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  016. 

Jerome  of  Prague,  233,  369,  377,  380. 

Jerusalem,  22, 122, 145, 149. 

Jesuits,  393,  413,  414,  436,  465,  548, 
555,  556,  557,  558,  566,  604,  655,  659, 
660,  661,  (562,  663. 

Jesus,  147,  148. 

Jews,  171, 177, 189,  190,  204,  539. 

Joan  of  Arc,  235,  236,  237, 238, 239,  240, 
241,  242,  243,  244,  245,  246,  247,  248, 
249,  250,  251,  252,  253,  254,  255,  256, 
257,  258,  259,  260,  261,  315,  316. 

Jodelle,  402. 

John  of  Luxembourg,  248. 

John  of  Leyden,  384. 

John  of  Metz,  238. 

John  the  Good,  205,  206,  208,  210,  211. 

Judge,  the  feudal,  136. 

Judith,  Queen,  107, 108,  110. 

Julius  II.,  Pope,  322,  323,  324,  371,  373, 
379. 

Justice,  bed  of,  667. 

Kiersey,  edict  of,  110. 
Knights-errant,  147,  155,  160,  161,  163. 


Knighthood,  160,  161, 163,  164. 
Knights,  203,  485. 
Kollin,  battle  of,  651. 
Krefeld,  battle  of,  652. 
Kunersdorf ,  battle  of,  652. 

La  Barre,  665,  666. 

Laborers,  490. 

Lactantius,  20. 

Ladies'  Peace,  the,  351. 

La  Fayette,  Madame  de,  263. 

La  Hire,  234. 

Lally-Tollendal,  666,  667. 

Lamoignon,  598. 

Land-ownership,  31. 

Land,  title  to,  95,  126,  127,  185, 190. 

Landeric,  71,  77. 

Languedoc,  169',  170,  588. 

Lanoix,  539,  540,  541,  542. 

La  Noue,  439. 

Laon,  Cardinal,  224. 

Larret,  541. 

Lateran,  Council  of,  324. 

Lautrec,  362. 

Lauzun, 593,  605. 

La valette,  661,662. 

Lavatory,  113,  118. 

Law,  John,  4'J8,  611,  612,  613,  614,  615, 

616,  617,  618,  619,  620,  621,  622,  623, 

624,  625,  626,  627,  628,  629,  630,  633. 
Law  courts,  17. 
Lawfeld,  battle  of,  648. 
Laws,  665. 
Lawyers,  664. 
League,  Holy,  323. 
League,  the  Catholic,  437,  438,  443, 

450,  451,  452,  458,  460. 
Learning,  44. 
Leclerc,  354,  355. 
Lefevre,  381. 
L'Hopital,  Chancellor,  406,  407,  411, 

412,  413,  417. 
Lemaitre,  460. 
Le  Mans,  225. 
Leo,  Pope,  22. 
Leo  III.,  103. 
Leo  IX.,  325,  327. 
Leo  X.,  329,  373. 
Leopold  of  Germany,  546,  547. 
Lepers,  189,  190. 
Lettres  de  Cachet,  676,  677. 
Leudes,  93. 
Liberty  of  thought,  194. 


INDEX 


705 


Liberty,  struggles  for,  195. 

Library,  National,  221. 

Licinius,  19,  20. 

Liege,  275,  27G. 

Lies,  field  of,  107. 

Lille,  Jordan  de,  185, 186. 

Limoges,  219,  560,  649. 

Limousin,  the,  649. 

Lintz,  646. 

Lioncys,  the,  661. 

Lister,  Dr.,  584. 

Literature,  402,  679. 

Livry,  hermit  of,  344. 

Lognac,  442. 

Lollards,  369,  370. 

Lombards,  102. 

Longueville,  451. 

Lords,  feudal,  126,  127,  128,  129,  130, 
133,  134,  135,  278,  286,  287,  296.  See 
Nobles. 

Lorraine,  Cardinal,  443 ;  Count  of,  408 ; 
Duke  of,  452. 

Lorraine,  province,  235,  280,  644,  655, 
658. 

Lothair,  107,  108,  109. 

Louis  the  Fat,  118,  165, 166,  167. 

Louis  the  Handsome,  104, 106, 107, 108, 
109,  110. 

Louis  the  Quarrelsome,  184. 

Louis  the  Stammerer,  110. 

Louis  V.,  the  Pious,  109,  112. 

Louis  VII.,  167. 

Louis  VIII..  172. 

Louis  IX.,  149,  172,  173.  174,  175,  176. 

Louis  XL,  2(U,  269,  270,  271,  272,  273, 
274,  275,  276,  278,  279,  280,  282,  283, 
284,  285,  286,  287,  288,  289,  290,  291, 
294,  306,  582,  677. 

Louis  XII.,  303,  311,  313,  314,  315,  316, 
318,  319,  320,  321,  322,  323,  324,  325, 
326,  337,  341. 

Louis  XIII.,  487,  491,  492, 493, 494, 496, 
502,  503,  504,  582,  585. 

Louis  XIV.,  297,  504,  511,  512,  513,  514, 
515,  516,  517,  518,  519,  521,  522,  523, 
524,  525,  526,  527.  528,  529,  531,  532, 
533,  534.  5a">,  536,  543,  544,  515,  546, 
517,  548,  549,  550,  551,  552,  553,  554, 
555,  556,  557,  558,  559,  500,  561,  562, 
563,  564,  565,  5<>6,  567,  568,  569,  577, 
578,  579,  5SO,  581,  582,  584,  586,  587, 
588,  589,  590,  591 ,  592,  593,  594,  595, 
596,  597,  598,  599,  600,  601,  602,  603, 
2  z 


604,  605,  606,  607,  608,  609,  610,  611, 
612,  631,  632,  639,  668,  669,  676. 

Louis  XV.,  297,  306,  500,  552,  559, 568, 
577,  602,  603,  605,  608,  626,  636,  638, 
639,  640,  641,  642,  643,  644,  648,  649, 
650,  656,  662,  663,  664,  668,  669,  670, 
671,  672,  675,  677,  678,  679,  689,  690, 
691,  692,  693,  694. 

Louis  XVI.,  500,  503,  671,  694,  695. 

Louisburg,  648. 

Louise  de  la  Valliere,  564,  604. 

Louise  of  Savoy,  337,  338,  340, 342, 344, 
345,  351,  352,  362. 

Louisiana,  616,  617,  618,  629,  654. 

Louvois,  518,  525,  526,  528. 

Low  Countries,  the,  110.  See  Nether- 
lands. 

Loyola,  413. 

Loyseleur,  251. 

Luther,  348,  375,  376,  377,  378,  379,  380, 
381,  383,  384,  401,  480. 

Lutherans,  344,  348,  349, 354, 435.  See 
Huguenots. 

Lutzen,  battle  of,  501. 

Luxembourg,  John  of,  248 ;  Marshal, 
521,  533,  554,  594. 

Luynes,  Albert  de,  491,  492,  494. 

Lyons,  17,  37. 

Machiavelli,  371,  688. 

Mademoiselle  the  Great,  509,  593,  605, 

641. 

Madrid,  343;  treaty  of,  346,  347,  350. 
Maestricht,  648. 
Magdeburg,  sack  of,  385. 
Maine,  282 ;  Duke  of,  5(56,  608,  631. 
Maintenon,  Madame  de,  548,  556,  557, 

558,  566,  596,  600,  603,  633,  634,  641. 
Malplaquet,  550. 
Manila,  (554. 
Manners,  feudal,  131. 
Mans,  le,  225. 

Manufactures,  11,  12,  17,  475,  490,  575. 
Marcel,  209. 
Mardyck,  631. 
Margaret  of  Austria,  282,  304, 305,  306, 

307,  325,  326,  351. 
Margaret  of  Navarre,  343,  344,  345, 

354,  401. 
Margaret    of    Valois,    418,    434,    447, 

448. 

Maria  Leczinska,  638,  656. 
Maria  Theresa,  510,  604. 


700 


INDEX 


Maria  Theresa  of  Austria,  644, 646, 647, 

648. 

Marignano,  battle  of,  328,  329. 
Marigny,  184,  693. 
Marileif ,  66. 
Maritime  Code,  542. 
Marius,  14. 
Marlborough,  Duke  of,  549,  550,  551, 

552. 

Marly,  571,  581,  595,  596,  599,  641. 
Marmoutier,  463. 
Marmousets,  the,  225,  226. 
Marriage  customs,  56. 
Marseilles,  5,  6,  75,  343,  662. 
Martel,  Charles,  96. 
Martinique,  661. 
Martin  of  Tours,  43,  66,  67. 
Mary  de'  Medici,  472, 473,  474, 488, 490, 

492,  493,  494,  496. 
Mary  of  Burgundy,  280,  282,  304. 
Mary  of  England,  326,  399. 
Mary  Stuart,  402,  403,  407,  434. 
Massacres,  189. 
Masselin,  293. 
Masses,  the,  497. 
Massillon,  673. 
Mass,  the,  480. 

Maupeou,  Chancellor,  642,  669,  670. 
Maurevel,  419. 
Maurice  of  Saxony,  397. 
Maximilian  of  Germany,  281,  282,  300, 

301,  303,  304,  305,  306,  307,  311,  321, 

322,  324,  325,  326,  332,  333. 
Mayence,  archbishop  of,  334. 
Mayeime,  Duke  of,  450,  451,  452,  458, 

459,  4GO,  463,  404,  465,  468. 
Mayor  of  Palace,  95. 
Mazarin,  330,  505,  508,  509,  510,  511, 

582,  668. 
Medici,  Catherine,  303,  304,  354,  364, 

409,  412,  413,  415,  416,  417,  418,  419, 

4.35,  440,  441. 

Medici,  Mary  de'.  See  Mary  de'  Medici. 
Medici,  the,  373. 
Medicine,  482. 
Melancthon,  381. 
Menendez,  426,  427,  428. 
Mentz,  peace  of,  525. 
Merchants,  165. 
Merlin,  422. 
Merovins,  first,  25,  35. 
Merovius,  64,  65,  60,  67,  68,  69,  70. 
Merovingians,  51,  80. 


Metz,  67,  69,  397,  647. 

Mezieres,  342. 

Michelet,  186. 

Middle  class,  575.    See  also  Commons. 

Milan,  308,   320,  321,  329,    348,    358, 

644. 

Militia,  639. 
Mill,  feudal,  572. 
Millionaires,  627. 
Minerva,  635. 
Mines,  11,  265. 
Minorca,  551. 
Miracles,  188,  482,  563. 
Mississippi  Scheme,  616,  617,  618. 
Modena,  Duke  of,  549. 
Mohammed  and  Mohammedans,  145, 

149,  150,  381. 
Molay,  Jacques,  180. 
Mole',  460. 
Mommulus,  74,  75. 
Monarchy,  579,  580,  581. 
Monasteries,  83,  84,  480. 
Money,  11,  12,  17,  131,  132,  135,  174, 

180,  479,  613,  625,  628,  629. 
Mongols,  25,  28. 
Monopoly,  of  land,  126,  127,  185;  of 

tobacco,  627. 
Mons,  533. 

Montagu,  Lady  Mary,  584. 
Montauban,  494. 
Montcontour,  battle  of,  417. 
Monte",  652. 

Montereau,  bridge  of,  230. 
Montespan,  Madame  de,  557,  564,  565, 

590,  593,  603,  604. 
Montfort,  Simon  de,  170. 
Montgomery,  434. 
Montiel,  battle  of,  218. 
Montlhery,  battle  of,  273. 
Montluc,  429,  434. 
Montmorency,  Charlotte,  471. 
Montmorency,  Constable,  358, 394, 395, 

396,  397,  400,  403,  409,  415,  416. 
Montpensier,  Duchess,  442,  444,  465. 
Moors,  215. 
Morals,  574. 
Morat,  battle  of,  280. 
Morning  gift,  57,  60,  61,  64. 
Mortemer,  battle  of,  117. 
Moselle,  the,  19. 
Moulins,  338. 
Minister,  battle  of,  518. 
Mimtzer,  384. 


INDEX 


707 


Murder,  money  payment  for,  32. 
Mysteries,  plays,  484. 

Namur,  533. 

Nancy,  battle  of,  280. 

Nann,  5,  6. 

Nantes,  edict  of,  466,  530,  556. 

Naples,  310,  311,  312, 318,  319,  320, 351, 
644. 

Napoleon,  605,  611. 

Narses,  14. 

Nassau,  Count  of,  397,  447. 

Navarre,  206. 

Navy,  500. 

Needle-gun,  the,  485. 

Nemours,  Duke  of,  277,  281. 

Nero,  21,  22. 

Netherlands,  the,  404,  438,  516,  517, 
522,  531,  548,  549. 

Neustrian  Franks,  63,  71,  77. 

Nevers,  Count  of,  227. 

Newfoundland,  551. 

New  Orleans,  616. 

Nice,  147. 

Nice,  peace  of,  358. 

Nicholas  V.,  266. 

Nicopolis,  battle  of,  227. 

Nimeguen,  peace  of,  107,  522,  523, 
524. 

Noailles,  Duke  of,  610. 

Nobles,  the,  20,  21,  74,  94,  112,  113, 
130,  141,  146,  150,  165,  172,  173,  174, 
181,  182,  184,  185,  189,  190,  191,  207, 
208,  264,  272,  273,  296,  297,  298,  299, 
300,  301,  302,  330,  331,  467,  479,  488, 
489,  491,  492,  493,  495,  496,  497,  498, 
506,  510,  569,  570,  571,  575,  589,  597, 
620,  627,  657,  664,  689,  690. 

Nordlingen,  battle  of,  505. 

Normandy,  Duke  of,  274. 

Normandy,  province  of,  169, 176,  273, 
275,  277,  451,  452,  560. 

Normans,  47,  103,  106,  110,  111,  112. 

Notables,  407. 

Notes,  bank,  615. 

Novara,  battle  of,  318,  324. 

Noyon,  bishop  of,  85,  86. 

Odette,  226. 
Odoacer,  25. 
Old  Regime,  327, 602, 603,  604, 605,  606, 

607. 
Oleron:lawsof,  539,  540. 


Olive,  the,  18. 

Oliver,  162. 

Olio,  76. 

Orange,  Prince  of,  301,  345. 

Orange,  William  of,  511,  521,  522,  523, 

524,  531,  532,  533,  534,  536,  548. 
Orgies  of  the  Regency,  635. 
Orleans,  bishop  of,  689,  690. 
Orleans,  Duke  of,  226,  227,  228,  230, 

290,  300,  301,  303,  311. 
Orleans,  Ordinance  of,  264,  412. 
Orleans,  Regent,  566, 601, 608, 609,  610, 

611,  612,  613,  614,  615,  616,  617,  621, 

627,  632,  633,  634,  635,  638,  639,  674, 

691. 

Otho  III.  of  Germany,  115, 116. 
Otto  IV.,  171. 
Oudenarde,  battle  of,  550. 
Oven,  feudal,  572. 

Pace,  Richard,  334. 

Paganism,  39,  115,  366,  368,  562. 

Pagans,  38,  39. 

Page,  the  lucky,  585. 

Palace,  mayors  of,  95. 

Palais-royal,  635. 

Palatinate,  531. 

Palatine,  Count,  333. 

Palestine,  144, 148. 

Pamplona,  120. 

Pander,  the,  576. 

Paoli,  659. 

Paper  money,  625,  628,  629. 

Parabere,  Madame  de,  635. 

Parc-aux-cerfs,  678. 

Paris,  54,  55,  62,  64,  77,  95,  110,  166, 
223,  229,  274,  359,  416,  451,  452,  458, 
459,  462,  587,  588,  605,  606. 

Paris,  judgment  of,  635. 

Paris,  University  of,  119, 195,  239,  249. 

Parliament  of  Paris,  182,  185,  239,  271, 
274,  330,  331,  337,  339,  343,  344,  355, 
363,  405,  412,  499,  504,  507,  508,  514, 
569,  582,  608,  660,  661,  662,  663,  664, 
665,  666,  667,  668,  669,  670,  671,  672, 
678. 

Parma,  Prince  of,  391,  457,  459,  469. 

Pavanes,  344. 

Pavia,  battle  of,  343,  344,  318. 

Peasants,  122,  123,  131,  132,  134,  187, 
188,  316,  396,  479,  583,  589,  590,  673, 
674. 

Peasant  war,  383,  384. 


708 


INDEX 


People,  condition  of,  112, 113,  669. 

Pepin,  95,  96,  98,  107. 

Pepin  II.,  108. 

Perigord,  Count  of,  112. 

Perkins,  the  historian,  614. 

Pe'ronne,  112. 

Persecution  of  literary  men,  677. 

Persecution,  religious,  39,  40,  47,  354, 

355,  356,  385,  393,  400,  405,  406,  408, 

411,  529,  530,  558. 
Persians,  10. 
Pescara,  342,  343. 
Pestilence,  113,231. 
Peter  the  Cruel,  216,  217,  218. 
Peter  the  Great,  568,  632,  633. 
Peter  the  Hermit,  143,  144, 148. 
Peter  II.  of  Russia,  337. 
Peter  III.,  652. 
Petit,  Jean,  228. 
Phallic  worship,  10. 
Pharamond,  29,  35. 
Phial,  holy,  463. 
Philip  Augustus,  169,  171, 172. 
Philip  of  Austria,  282. 
Philip  of  Valois,  186,  189,  200,  201. 
Philip  the  Fair,  176, 177, 178, 179,  180, 

181, 182, 183, 184, 192,  197,  286,  581. 
Philip  the  Good,  269,  270,  545. 
Philip  the  Hardy,  176. 
Philip  the  Long,  185. 
Philip  I.,  117,  118. 
Philip  II.  of  Spain,  387,  388,  389,  390, 

391,  392,  398,  399,  400,  402,  412,  416, 

424,  426,  428,  429,  434,  437,  438,  446, 

448,  449,  450,  451,  452,  453,  454,  455, 

456,  457,  460,  464,  465,  511. 
Philip  IV.  of  Spain,  513,  514,  516. 
Philip  V.  of  Spain,  547,  550,  552,  631, 

638,639. 

Philip  VI.,  196,  197,  198,  202,  203,  205. 
Philippsburg,  532,  644. 
Piacenza,  648. 
Pignerol,  535. 
Pilgrims,  143. 
Pirates,  544. 
Pisa,  Council  of,  325. 
Pisan,  Christine,  221. 
Pitt  diamond,  633. 
Pitt,  William,  652. 
Pius  VII.,  663. 
Plato,  402. 

Plessis-les-Tours,  282. 
Plutocrats,  689. 


Po,  the,  4. 

Poissy  conference,  411. 

Poitiers,  87. 

Poitiers,  battle  of,  208,  411. 

Poitiers,  Parliament  of,  241,  242. 

Poitou,  559. 

Poland,  430,  644,  656,  657,  675. 

Polycarp,  37. 

Polygamy,  31. 

Pompadour,  Madame  de,  558,  559,  633, 

642,  653,  663,  674,  692. 
Pompey,  16. 
Pondicherry,  648. 
Pope,  the,  26,  40,  48,  96,  98,  102,  105, 

107,  115, 118, 143,  170,  172,  175,  177, 

194,  215,  216,  258,  259,  260,  344,  350, 

368,  370,  378,  380,  386,  393,  398,  399, 

403,  416,  424. 

Population,  decrease  of,  584. 
Port  Royal,  469. 
Portugal,  404. 
Post-office,  285. 
Pothinus,  37. 

Pragmatic  Sanction,  the,  175,  329. 
Prague,  battle  of,  646. 
Precedence,  battle  of,  512. 
Pretaxtus,  65. 
Prie,  Madame  de,  636. 
Priests,  9,  82,  94, 102, 139, 177,  423, 424, 

433,  480,  555,  664. 
Primogeniture,  127,  190. 
Princesses,  daughters  of  Louis  XV., 

690. 

Prisage,  207,  227. 
Prisons,  feudal,  136. 
Prices,  477,  478,  622,  623,  624,  625,  626, 

638,  639. 

Privileges,  feudal,  570,  571,  627. 
Privileges,  origin  of,  572,  627,  674. 
Protective  tariff,  575. 
Protestants,  353, 408, 449, 490, 494,  501, 

528,  529,  530,  531,  551,  558. 
Provence,  282. 
Prussia,  646,  657. 
Public  debt,  364,  408,  411,  511,  561, 

583. 

Pyrenees,  the,  1,  79,  104. 
Pyrenees,  treaty  of  the,  510. 

Quebec,  469. 

Quentin,  St.,  battle  of,  398,  399. 

Quesnel,  688. 

Quincampoiz,  Rue  de,  619. 


INDEX 


709 


Rabelais,  402,  676. 

Racine,  593. 

Radegonda,  84,  85,  86,  87,  89,  90,  91. 

Ragnacaire,  36,  37. 

Rambouillet,  304. 

Ramillies,  battle  of,  549. 

Ramorantin,  edict  of,  406. 

Raucoux,  648. 

Rauking,  68. 

Ravaillac,  473,  474. 

Ravenna,  23,  337. 

Ravenna,  battle  of,  324. 

Raymond  of  Toulouse,  173. 

Reformation,  the,  365,  377,  378,  380, 

384,  392,  451. 
Reformers,  193,  209,  316. 
Reforms,  105,  209,  289,  293,  294,  507, 

630. 

Regency,  era  of  the,  628,  634,  635. 
Relics,  sacred,  480, 482,  483. 
Religion,  28,  33,  39,  151. 
Renaissance,  the,  353,  400,  401,  475. 
Renaudie,  406. 
Renaudot,  502. 
Rene',  King,  282. 
Retz,  Cardinal,  330,  509. 
Reuchlin,  377. 
Revenues,  national,  643. 
Revolt,  peasant,  122,  123,  209. 
Revolt  of  the  lower  orders,  21,  22. 
Rheims,  245,  271,  463,  636. 
Rhine,  the,  19,  26. 
Ribaut,  426,  427. 
Richard  of  the  Lion  Heart,  149,  172, 

173, 178,  179. 

Richard  III.  of  England,  300,  301,  303. 
Richelieu,  297,  488,  490,  492,  495,  496, 

497,  498,  500,  501,  502,  503,  504,  569, 

582,  639,  668,  677. 
Richelieu,  Marshal,  613,  630,  635,  640, 

650,  651. 

Richemont,  de,  263. 
Riots,  501,  583,  586,  588. 
Riquier,  37. 

Rites  and  ceremonies,  368. 
Roads,  17,  639. 
Robert  the  Magnificent,  117. 
Robert  the  Wise,  114,  116, 117. 
Roche,  294. 
Roche,  A.,  417. 
Rochefoucauld,  Duke  of,  439. 
Rochelle,  220,  424,  446,  494,  500. 
Rochelle,  Assembly  of,  493. 


Rocroi,  battle  of,  505. 

Rohan,  Cardinal,  674. 

Rohan,  Duke  of,  303,  330,  439,  493. 

Roland,  104, 120,  162,  163. 

Rollo,  111,  112. 

Roman  Empire,  24,  25,  102,  125,  132, 

192. 

Roman  law,  93,  95. 
Roman  Senate,  21. 
Romans,  the,  1,  9,  13,  16,  18,  20, 22, 28, 

29,  38,  39,  81,  92,  93. 
Rome,  1,  9,  11,  13,  23, 24,  26,  27,  35, 36, 

48,  370,  378,  379. 
Rome,  Catholic,  444,  445,  483. 
Rome,  the  city,  309,  348. 
Rome,  the  sack  of,  341. 
Roncesvalles,  104, 162, 163. 
Ronsard,  425. 
Roosebeke,  223. 
Roquelaure,  439. 
Rossbach,  battle  of,  651. 
Rousillon,  503. 

Rousseau,  680,  681,  682,  683,  684. 
Ruins,  feudal,  64. 
Russia,  644,  648,  658. 
Ryswick,  treaty  of,  535,  536. 

Sabinus,  23. 

Sable,  treaty  of,  303. 

Sailing  vessels,  11. 

Saints,  483,  484. 

Saladin,  149. 

Salian  Franks,  35. 

Salic  Law,  184,  197,  198,  206,  460. 

Salt  tax,  origin,  205. 

Saracens,  98,  106,  110,  147. 

Sardinia,  645. 

Sauret,  540,  541,  542,  543. 

Savonarola,  309,  372,  373,  380. 

Savoy, 644. 

Savoy,  Duke  of,  452,  527,  528,  535, 549, 

551. 

Saxe,  Marshal,  648. 
Saxons,  57, 58,  79,  81,  98,  108,  651. 
Saxony,  645. 

Scarron,  Abbe',  556,  557,  558. 
Schomberg,  Marshal,  531. 
Schools,  17,  19,  166,  484,  639. 
Schools,  hedge,  400. 
Schwerin,  Marshal,  645. 
Science,  481. 
Sea-fox,  538. 
Sedan,  503,  646. 


710 


INDEX 


Se'gur,  de,  448. 

Semblancy,  362. 

Sens,  Council  of,  167. 

Serfs,  9,  19,  68,  141, 150,  186, 187,  571. 

Servants,  576,  630. 

Servetus,  382. 

Services,  feudal,  126. 

Sforza,  Ludovico,  308,  309,  311,  318, 

324,  32(5,  358. 

Shares  and  stocks,  619,  624,  626. 
Shepherds,  the,  189. 
Sicilian  Vespers,  176. 
Sicily,  555,  632. 

Sigibert,  55,  56,  58,  61,  62,  63,  73,  74. 
Sigismund,  227. 
Silesia,  645,  646,  648,  654. 
Sixteen,  Committee  of,  432,  445. 
Sixtus  IV.,  277. 
Skobeleff ,  349. 
Slavery  and  slaves,  24,  38,  39, 129, 130, 

182. 

Slave  trade,  551,  649,  686. 
Slavs,  106. 

Sluys,  naval  battle  off,  200. 
"  Social  Contract,"  680. 
Soissons,  107. 
Soissons,  battle  of,  34. 
Soissons,  vase  of,  34. 
Soldiers,  foot-,  203. 
Solyman,  Sultan,  359. 
Somme,  towns  of  the,  273. 
Soothsayers,  7,  8. 
Sorbonne,  the,  174,  314,  315,  316,  444, 

514,  587,  687. 
Sorcery,  188. 
Soubise,  Marshal,  651. 
South  Sea  Bubble,  618. 
South  Seas,  631. 

Spain,  3,  404,  525,  526,  549,  631,  649. 
Spaniards,  312,  324,  325,  342,  358,  429, 

464,  510. 

Special  Tribunals,  Louis  XIV.,  525. 
Specie  payments,  623,  625,  626. 
Spurs,  battle  of,  325.      . 
Squire,  the  feudal,  157. 
St.  Antoine,  510. 
St.  Aubin,  302. 
St.  Bartholomew,  418,  423,  424,  447, 

470. 

St.  Cyr,  568. 

St.  George,  Chevalier  de,  621. 
St.  Pol,  274,  278,281,284. 
St.  Quentin,  399. 


St.  Simon,  556,  576,  584,  585,  587,  591, 

601. 

Stanislaus,  644,  655,  656,  657,  658,  659. 
State,  the,  42,  187,  393,  602,  603. 
States-General,  the,  177,  181,  185,  207, 

209,  275,  291,  292,  293,  294,  295,  297, 

298,  299,  300,  321,  363,  407,  410,  437, 

441,  400,  462,  463,  488,  499,  500,  582, 

670,  671. 

Steenkerke,  battle  of,  533. 
Stilicho,  24. 

Stock  exchange,  619,  620. 
Stock  gambling,  619,  620. 
Stocks  and  shares,  617,  618. 
Stone,  philosopher's,  481. 
Strasburg,  518,  536,  596. 
Stuart,  Margaret,  269. 
Stuart,  Mary,  402,  403,  434. 
Stuart,  Pretender,  548,  551,  631,  632, 

648,691,692,693. 
Sudra,  38. 
Sueves,  26. 
Suger,  Abbot,  168. 
Sully,  Duke  of,  439,  467,  468,  469,  472, 

473,  487. 

Superstition,  83,  120, 121,  371,  481. 
Surgery,  482. 
Surplus  revenue,  643. 
Suzanne  of  Bourbon,  336,  337,  338, 339. 
Swammerdam,  521. 
Sweden,  521,  525. 
Swiss,  280,  318,  324,  325,  328,  329,  440, 

441,  450. 
Syagrius,  38. 
Sylla,  14. 
Syria,  148. 
System,  John  Law's,  613,  614, 615,  616, 

617,  618. 

Taine,  674. 

Talleyrand,  330. 

Tancred,  148, 162. 

Tariffs,  protective,  686. 

Tartars,  25. 

Tasso,  162. 

Tax  farming,  468,  469,  608,  609,  672, 
689. 

Taxes,  19,  20,  160,  177,  207,  222,  227, 
264,  267,  271,  283,  294,  295,  296,  297, 
312,  313,  363,  395,  437,  4(i8,  501,  506, 
507,  534,  569,  570,  583,  587,  588,  618, 
643,  656,  657,  665,  686. 

Tellier,  587. 


INDEX 


711 


Templars,  the  Knights,  178,  179,  180, 

181. 

Temple,  Sir  William,  583. 
Temporal  power  of  the  Pope,  origin 

of,  97. 

Terray,  Abbe',  672. 
Tetzel,  374,  375,  376. 
Theodebert,  61. 
Theodebert  II.,  77,  78. 
Theodehilda,  54,  55. 
Theodore,  75. 
Theodoric,  25,  52, 158. 
Theodoric  II.,  77,  78,  81. 
Thermopylae,  3. 
The'rouanne,  398. 

Third  Estate,  189.    See  Commons. 
Thirty  Years'  War,  385. 
Thuringia,  84. 
Thuringians,  79,  108. 
Tilly,  385. 
Titus,  26. 

Tobacco  monopoly,  618. 
Toleration,  religious,  42,  413. 
Torcy,  Madame  de,  596,  597. 
Toul,  397. 
Toulouse,  76,  170. 
Tournay,  325,  326,  329. 
Tournay,  bishop  of,  43. 
Tours,  69,  292,  293,  294. 
Tours,  battle  of,  96,  145. 
Tourville,  537,  538. 
Towns,  11,  92,  146,  166,  168,  169,  174, 

192. 

Trade,  foreign,  265. 
Transubstantiation,  481. 
Tre'mouille,  302,  311,  318,  323,  324, 325, 

328,  439,  450. 

Treves,  archbishop  of,  333,  334. 
Trianon,  641,  679. 
Triple  Alliance,  631,  634. 
Trivulzio,  10,  323,  324,  328. 
Troubadours,  139,  140. 
Troyes,  treaty  of,  230,  239. 
Truant,  to  play,  400. 
Truce  of  God,  122. 
Turenne,  505,  509,  572. 
Turin,  533. 
Turpin,  chronicle  of,  119. 

Unigenitus,  Papal  Bull,  660,  668. 
United  States  of  North  America,  629. 
Universities,  285. 
University  of  Paris,  119,  195,  239,  249. 


Urban  II.,  Pope,  144,  145. 
Utrecht,  treaty  of,  551. 

Valbue',  538,  539,  540,  541,  542. 

Valliere,  Louise  de,  564,  604. 

Valois,  house  of,  312,  340. 

Vandals,  10,  26. 

Vassals,  139. 

Vassy,  massacre  of,  414,  415. 

Vauban,  533,  536. 

Vaucouleurs,  237,  238. 

Vaudois,  the,  308,  355,  356,  357,  358, 

369,  528. 

Vende'e,  La,  577,  578. 
Vendome,  the  bastard  of,  247. 
Vendome,  Duke  of,  505,  551,  552,  553. 
Venice,  321,  322,  323,  351. 
Venus,  367,  635. 
Vercingetorix,  15. 
Verdun,  bishop  of,  277. 
Verdun,  397. 
Verdun,  treaty  of,  109. 
Versailles,  560,  564,  565,  566,  567,  570, 

571,  586,  587,  589,  592,  593,  632,  633, 

641. 

Vervins,  treaty  of,  466. 
Vespasian,  23. 
Vice,  634. 
Vienna,  505,  646. 
Vigo,  632. 

Villars,  Marshal,  468. 
Villa-Viciosa,  battle  of,  553. 
Villeroi,  Marshal,  468,  554. 
Villiquier,  Duke  of,  434. 
Vimory,  battle  of,  439. 
Vindex,  21,  22. 
Vine,  the,  18. 
Virgin,  the,  367. 
Visconti,  Valentine,  318. 
Vitry,  190. 
Voltaire,  653,  665,  666,  679,  680,  688, 

695. 

Vote  buying,  657. 
Vows  of  knighthood,  161. 

Wages,  477,  478. 

Waldeuses,  528. 

Wallace,  Sir  William,  221. 

War,  civil,  229,  230,  252. 

War,  feudal,  141. 

War,  Hundred  Years',  196,  224,  262. 

War,  on  feudal  chiefs,  165. 

War,  Seven  Years',  650,  653. 


712 


INDEX 


War,  Spanish  Succession,  652. 

Wars,  Louis  XI.,  306. 

Wars,  Louis  XIV.,  532,  534. 

Warsaw,  657. 

Warwick,  Earl,  252. 

Washington,   George,  390,   391,   545, 

650. 

Weser,  the,  79. 

Westphalia,  peace  of,  392,  505,  506. 
William  the  Norman,  117. 
William  the  Silent,  386,  387,  388,  389, 

390,  391,  392. 
Wine-press,  feudal,  572. 
Witchcraft,  481. 


Witches,  119, 188, 189,  481. 
Wittenberg,  381. 
Wolsey,  Cardinal,  336,  344. 
World,  end  of,  121. 
Worms,  diet  of,  380. 

Xerxes,  3. 

Young,  Arthur,  667. 

Yuste,  monastery  of,  398,  454. 

Zama,  battle  of,  4. 
Zorndorf ,  battle  of,  652. 
Zwingli,  381,  388. 


FRANCE. 

BY 

JOHN   EDWARD   COURTENAY   BODLEY. 
2  Vols.    Cloth.    Demy  8vo.    $4.00,  net. 


In  this  work  the  author  has  treated  French  institutions  with  the  same  care 
and  method  as  were  given  to  those  of  this  country  by  Bryce  in  his  "  Ameri- 
can Commonwealth,"  or  Russia  by  Mackenzie  Wallace. 

Of  the  two  volumes,  the  first  deals  in  an  exhaustive  and  judicial  way  with 
"  The  Revolution  and  Modern  France " ;  "  The  Constitution  and  the  Chief 
of  the  State." 

The  second  is  devoted  to  "  The  Parliament  System "  and  "  Political 
Parties." 

The  work  represents  the  result  of  a  seven  years1  continuous  residence  in 
France  in  constant  association  with  the  French  People  of  all  classes  and  of 
all  shades  of  opinion. 

In  connection  with  Bryce's  "American  Commonwealth,"  it  affords  the 
basis  of  an  exhaustive  comparative  study  of  the  institutions  of  the  two  great 
modern  republics. 

COMMENTS. 

"  Mr.  Bodley's  considerable  work  on  France  is  a  book  of  political  philosophy,  but  one  in  which 
the  philosophy  is  so  much  disguised  by  the  lightness  produced  by  constant  modern  and  personal 
illustration  that  it  will  be  possible  for  the  general  reader  to  digest  its  contents  without  knowing  how 
much  philosophy  he  has  read.  In  this  respect  it  may  be  compared  with  the  works  of  Tocqueville  and 
Mr.  Bryce  upon  the  United  States;  but  it  is  easier  to  read  than  either  of  those  remarkable  books,  and 
it  strikes  us  as  being  sounder  in  its  philosophy  than  was  the  more  famous  of  the  pair." 

—  Athenceum,  London. 

"  It  would  be  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  importance  of  such  a  book  as  Mr.  Bodley's  admirable 
study  of  France  since  the  Revolution.  The  book  has  the  three  essential  qualities  of  a  foreigner's 
study  of  another  land  than  his  own:  sympathy;  varied  and  accurate  knowledge  of  his  subject;  and 
moderation  in  praise  and  blame.  A  juster  view  of  France  does  not  exist  in  English;  a  fuller  and 
more  competent  treatment  of  a  complex  and  aboundingly  interesting  subject  has  never  been  given 
us." —  The  Literary  Era. 

"  Mr.  Bodley's  work  is  deeply  thoughtful  in  tone,  comprehensive  in  scope,  graphic  in  style,  and 
altogether  masterly  in  conception  and  painstaking  execution.  It  is  bound  to  be  the  paramount 
authority  on  French  constitutional  history  in  English-speaking  countries." — Chicago  Tribune. 


THE  MACMILLAN   COMPANY. 

NEW  YORK.  BOSTON.  CHICAGO.  SAN  FRANCISCO. 


The  Growth  of  the  French 
Nation. 


BY 


GEORGE  BURTON  ADAMS, 

Professor  of  History  in   Yale  University. 

Cloth.    1 2 mo.    Price,  $1.25. 


Dominant 

influences  carefully 
traced. 


Clear  and 
to  the  point. 


Promise  of  title 
fulfilled. 


Strict  fairness 

and  clear, 

independent 

judgment. 


COMMENTS. 

"The  present  work  is  a  proof  of  how  much  that  is  new  and 
striking  may  be  said  upon  a  trite  subject.  Many  books  have  been 
written  upon  French  history,  but  it  would  be  difficult  to  specify  any 
in  which  the  dominant  forces  at  work  in  that  history  have  been  so 
carefully  traced." —  Oxford  Magazine. 

"  Mr.  Adams  has  dealt  in  a  fascinating  way  with  the  chief  feat- 
ures of  the  Middle  Age,  and  his  book  is  rendered  the  more  attrac- 
tive by  some  excellent  illustrations.  He  traces  the  history  of  France 
from  the  Conquests  by  the  Romans  and  Franks  down  to  the  presi- 
dency of  M.  Felix  Faure,  and  has  always  something  to  say  that  is 
clear  and  to  the  point ;  Mr.  Adams  seems  to  us  to  have  seized  the 
salient  features  of  the  growth  of  the  French  nation,  and  to  have 
fulfilled  the  promise  of  his  title."  —  Educational  Review. 

"'The  History  of  Institutions,'  writes  Bishop  Stubbs,  'cannot 
be  mastered,  can  scarcely  be  approached,  without  an  effort : '  and 
in  Mr.  Adams's  work  we  are  glad  to  recognize  many  of  the  rare 
qualities  needed.  He  shows  strict  fairness  with  clear  and  indepen- 
dent judgment,  and  he  tells  his  story  pleasantly.  .  .  .  The  portraits 
and  other  illustrations,  all  apposite  and  interesting,  lend  grace  and 
charm  to  the  book."  —  London  Academy. 


THE  MACMILLAN   COMPANY. 

NEW  YORK.  BOSTON.  CHICAGO.  SAN  FRANCISCO. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 

DAYS  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 

UnlO     This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


Book  Slip — Series  4280 


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